


Shiver Me Timbers

by Inkandquills, writersstudy



Series: Roleplay Fics [10]
Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Abusive Relationship, Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Battered Person Syndrome, Blood and Injury, Discussions of burnt bodies, M/M, Mentions/discussion of death, Minor Character Death, Rape, Smut, Swordfighting, Violence, We promise we know that ATEEZ are actually wonderful people, Wooyoung and a little bit of Yeosang, mentions of fire, mild elements of torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 08:34:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 56,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22356772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkandquills/pseuds/Inkandquills, https://archiveofourown.org/users/writersstudy/pseuds/writersstudy
Summary: Yeosang had a good life working on the merchant ship. At least, he did, until the pirates attacked.[[PLEASE NOTE THAT WE, THE AUTHORS, HAVE NOT GIVEN PERMISSION FOR THIS WORK TO BE RE-POSTED ANYWHERE EXCEPT DIRECTLY ON AO3. IF YOU SEE THIS WORK ANYWHERE ELSE, PLEASE REPORT IT FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AND NOTIFY US AT LIVING.LENIENTLY@GMAIL.COM. THANK YOU.]]
Relationships: Jeong Yunho/Jung Wooyoung, Kang Yeosang/Kim Hongjoong
Series: Roleplay Fics [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1256117
Comments: 24
Kudos: 71





	Shiver Me Timbers

**Author's Note:**

> Hello hello!  
I just wanted to give a little warning that despite the title this fic is a lot darker than our previous works so please read the tags for triggers before continuing! And if you come across a trigger that we missed tagging please let us know! Thank you all so much for reading!

Yeosang was belowdecks, running through inventory before their next stop, when he heard panicked shouts from above. “Ready cannons!” he heard Youngjo shout, making him drop logbook and hurry down the hall to the iron giants. They only had two on each side of the ship and Geonhak was already waiting at one of them for Yeosang to ram the cannonball and send it flying. “Pirates?” Yeosang asked. “Pirates,” the other man confirmed.

Hongjoong stood on the starboard edge of the ship, holding onto a rope. They were approaching a merchant ship, which he was confident they could take over before sunset.They were running low on supplies and had been rationing for weeks. He was looking forward to the opportunity to restock. When the ship fired a cannonball, Hongjoong called the order to fire their own shots. They just needed to get a little bit closer before he could board the ship and take the crew by hand. 

The first cannonball fell wide, so Yeosang and Geonhak rammed another and aimed up. This one was more successful, hitting the top of the quarterdeck. They readied another when they felt a hit in the belly of their own ship. 

“Hold fire!” Hongjoong cried. Yunho and San stepped away from the cannons and grabbed their swords. They waited with baited breath until they were close enough to push the planks over the side and board the merchant ship. 

“We’ve been boarded!” Youngjo called out, “all hands on deck!” Yeosang and Geonhak rammed their last cannonball, sending it deep into the belly of the pirate ship, before both heading up the stairs. What they found was a bloodbath. The pirates were brutal, slicing and stabbing any uniformed body that they found. Up on the quarterdeck, Youngjo and Hwanwoong were both struggling to take on a red haired pirate. Yeosang couldn’t be distracted for too long though, as he whirled around and joined the fray. 

Hongjoong was actually surprised with how some of the merchants were able to hold their own. He called more of his crew over, leaving Seonghwa to man the wheel. Being outnumbered was putting him at a slight disadvantage but when the smaller one slipped on the blood soaked deck, Hongjoong took the chance to plunge his sword deep into his chest. Not bothering to worry if it killed him or not, he whirled back around to face the other merchant still after him. 

Yeosang watched Hwanwoong fall off the quarterdeck, body limp. A fire lit in his chest and he slashed across the neck of the nameless pirate he was fighting, spitting in his face as he fell. Without any other consideration, he all but vaulted himself up to the quarterdeck, coming up behind the pirate. 

Hongjoong growled when another merchant replaced the one he had just felled. He glanced quickly over his shoulder and frowned when he saw his whole crew still at odds with the last few merchants. If he ran into trouble, he knew Seonghwa would come help him. 

Yeosang saw the pirate turn and jumped off the railing just in time to slash him deep across the face. He then shoved him with a shoulder, sending him slipping back to Youngjo. 

Hongjoong cried out in pain. He didn’t have time to worry about the blood rushing down his cheek when an arm suddenly wrapped around his neck. He wasted no time elbowing the man in the stomach and slipping out of his now loosened grasp. Without hesitation, he slashed the man’s neck and turned back to the merchant who had sliced his cheek. “You’ll pay for this,” he growled. 

Yeosang growled in response and slashed again, doing his best to force the pirate back toward the stairs. It came to his attention that the noise had started to die down, which could only mean one thing: his side was losing. 

Hongjoong parried each of the merchant’s attacks. He was starting to get desperate and therefore sloppy. Hongjoong played it safe and when the merchant misstepped, he took the opportunity to disarm him, sending his sword flying across the deck. He smirked and pointed his own sword at the merchant. “I wouldn’t move if I were you,” he said. 

Yeosang stopped, chest heaving as he stood defenseless in front of the armed pirate. When the pirate seemed satisfied that he was defeated and began to lower his sword, Yeosang attacked, punching the pirate in the face and sending him tumbling down the stairs, sword flying over the railing and into the water below. 

Hongjoong gasped when he landed on his back on the deck. He didn’t have time to collect his breath and he tried to push himself to his feet but San and Yunho had already jumped over him to apprehend the merchant. He finally pulled himself to his feet and scowled when his sword was nowhere in sight. It had been his first sword and held quite a bit of sentimental value. “Don’t kill him,” he ordered, “we’re taking him with us.” The merchant was going to pay for what he had done.

Yeosang struggled against the two pirates holding him. If it was just the shorter one, he’d be out and fighting again no problem, but the other one had just too much of a height advantage over him, enough to force him to his knees in front of the man that was clearly the captain. 

Hongjoong looked down at the merchant. He wiped his cheek with the back of his hand before proceeding to slap the merchant across the face. He smirked when he saw the red that now stained the merchant’s cheek too. “You two can bring him below deck. No food or water yet,” he said. He walked across the deck and picked up the merchant’s sword. It would suffice for the time being. 

Yeosang didn’t struggle as he was forced across the boards to the pirate ship. He wasn’t quite daring enough to risk a quick death in the water. Once they were on the ship, however, he struggled like there was no tomorrow, throwing his body around and slamming his two assailants into doorways and walls. 

San’s grip on the merchant loosened when he was slammed into the wall. He tried to grab back on but it was too late before his arm was free. He quickly reached for his sword. 

As soon as his arm was free, Yeosang swung himself around and punched the other pirate square in the jaw. Youngjo may have been the captain, but Yeosang was the best fighter in their entire crew. 

Yunho yelled when he was punched. He opened and closed his jaw and grimaced when he heard a pop. San had his sword drawn and pointed directly at the merchant. “Keep this up and you’re going to lose a hand,” he threatened.

“Do it,” Yeosang challenged, tipping his chin up even as he still fought to pull away from the larger of the two pirates. His entire crew was dead. What did he have to lose?

Yunho used the leverage he gained with the merchant distracted to slam him into the opposite wall and pin his arms. “Don’t,” he barked as San raised his sword, “Captain won’t be too happy if you mess him up before he does.”

Yeosang grunted as he was slammed into the wall. He tasted blood in his mouth as his jaw was forced shut on his tongue and he turned his head to spit it out on the shorter pirate’s boot. “Coward,” he hissed. 

In a flash, San’s sword was millimeters from the merchant’s neck. He glared at the captive, chest heaving. “Ignore him,” Yunho gritted out. He used one of his thighs to help pin the man to the wall. San was known to act irrationally when he was angry and they definitely didn’t need to piss the captain off anymore than he already was. 

“Do it,” Yeosang challenged again, “or are you too scared? Scared of that itty bitty captain of yours? I nearly killed him, y’know. Would have, too, if he hadn’t disarmed me. Pushed him down the stairs and cracked his ugly neck.”

“You’re nothing! You don’t stand a chance against our captain!” San cried. Before Yunho could stop him, he flicked his sword, causing a thin slice to start bleeding on the captive’s neck. He raised his sword again, maybe to take an ear or a finger, but was stopped by a strong hand on his shoulder. “I promise you can have your fun with him. Just not yet,” Hongjoong said quietly, “go help the crew throw the rest of the bodies overboard and starting taking inventory.”

Yeosang hissed when the sword tip caught his neck and turned his head to glare at the captain. “Murderer,” he spat. 

“You say that like you weren’t just threatening to kill me,” Hongjoong said with a laugh, “now how long should we keep you down here with no food for? A few days?” “A week,” Yunho growled, opening and closing his jaw again. “Hm, I don’t want to starve him to death. That’s not fun. Maybe we’ll give him our spoiled food and if he makes it through the week, he can earn something better,” Hongjoong mused. 

Yeosang rolled his eyes. He was a former navyman and if there was one thing that it had taught him, it was how to starve. “That’s your worst?” he taunted, “some pirates you are.”

Hongjoong had better things to worry about than listening to his captive run his mouth. “Let’s get him downstairs and locked up,” he said, grabbing the merchant’s wrist and twisting it at a weird angle. “Everyday he survives, he loses a finger and if he makes it to ten days, we’ll tie sandbags around his waist and toss him overboard,” he said to Yunho. 

Yeosang could feel his wrist close to popping so he didn’t dare struggle. “Why not finish the job now?” he gritted out.

Hongjoong scoffed. “Because making you suffer is much more entertaining,” he replied simply. He helped Yunho shove the captive into an iron cell, not before cracking him in the nose first. The blood loss was starting to make him weaker and he didn’t want to risk getting overpowered again. 

Yeosang finally broke and cried out as his nose was broken. He let them shove him to the ground in the cell. Now that the fight was over, all of his adrenaline was gone. 

“Keep an eye on him for a little while until we’re sure he won’t escape,” Hongjoong ordered. He didn’t even afford the captive another glance before climbing the stairs back up to the deck. His foot caught on the last step, sending him tumbling to the ground. Through blurry eyes, he watched the blood drip from his cheek onto the wood below him. 

Yeosang stripped off his already soaked shirt and used it stem the blood flowing from his nose. He would try his hand at escape once dark had fallen. 

Hongjoong pushed himself up onto shaky legs.He did his best to make it across the deck without falling and was successful despite two close calls. He didn’t trust himself to make it across the planks to the other ship so he supported himself on the edge of the ship and watched his crew start to move supplies. 

“Captain,” Seonghwa called across the deck, “Mingi and Jongho have just about moved everything. Should we burn her?”

“I think so. Once you’re all back over here, we’ll cut her loose and make some molotovs. When you’re done with Jongho, send him downstairs to check the damage to the hull,” Hongjoong said. 

“Go fix your face, Captain,” Seonghwa said, “we’ll handle this.”

Hongjoong scowled and wiped his cheek with the back of his hand again. He nodded once to Seonghwa in acknowledgement and headed back to his room. He growled to himself when he finally got a good look at his face. His cheek was so swollen it had nearly forced his eye closed and was still bleeding pretty heavily. There wasn’t much he could do to stop the bleeding but he washed his face off and tried to find something to wrap it with. 

Seonghwa dictated Hongjoong’s orders once the rest of the crew was back on their ship. As soon as the merchant ship was ablaze, they pulled anchor and let the sea move them to safety. “So Cap took a prisoner, eh?” Mingi asked once they were afloat. Hongjoong was known for his refusal to leave any survivors. 

“Yeah and he did _ nothing  _ to him,” San spat, “I don’t know when he got so soft but hopefully he gets sick of him and let us kill him and dump him. He’s a menace and he’s just gonna cause more problems than it’s worth.”

“Do not speak of your captain in that manner,” Seonghwa said stiffly, “he knows what he’s doing and it isn’t your place to question his decisions.”

“We never take prisoners! What the fuck makes this guy so special? The only thing he’s got is a pretty face which shouldn’t even be pretty anymore,” San snapped. Jongho had finally come up from below deck and was waiting for San to cool off before relaying the report of the damage. 

“You know how Cap gets,” Mingi said, “he likes a plaything every now and then.” “What’s the damage?” Seonghwa asked Jongho, ignoring the other two.

Jongho side eyed San before responding. “We’re not taking on any water yet but there’s substantial damage to the hull from the one cannonball that hit the hull. It’s causing us to lean and if we don’t repair it with the next six days, we’re going to regret burning that merchant ship. The quarterdeck’s got some broken rails too,” he said. 

Seonghwa nodded. “I’ll let the captain know. The rest of you, get all these supplies downstairs.”

Jongho nodded and followed the rest of the crew to start moving the crates. “You should knock some sense into him too while you’re down there,” San grumbled as he shoved past Seonghwa. 

“I’ll knock some sense into you first,” Seonghwa threatened. He left San at the helm and headed downstairs to find Hongjoong. 

Hongjoong looked up when there was a knock on the door. “Come in,” he said gruffly. He had taken his blood soaked shirt off and had ripped it so that he could use the back that wasn’t ruined as a makeshift rag. He was almost out of shirt and his cheek hadn’t stopped bleeding yet. 

“That’s a bit of a rough look there, Captain,” Seonghwa said as he entered and sat down. “Jongho says we’re not taking water but we’ve got a decent hole that we’ve only got a week’s time to fix.”

“Save it,” Hongjoong snarled. He paused as he mulled over what to do about the damage. He cursed to himself. “We don’t have enough wood on board to fix it. Shit, we should have stripped the merchant’s hull first. Take what we have left and fix what’s most likely to leak first. Maybe the prisoner knows of any lumber shipments. Do anything you need to to get an answer out of him but don’t let San near him yet.”

“I’ll let Yunho have a go at him, I’m sure he’ll be going down there soon anyway,” Seonghwa said, “anything else?”

“Do we have any needles and thread left on this damn ship? I’m gonna have to close up my cheek, it’s not stopping,” Hongjoong asked. The lump of cloth in his hand was almost entirely soaked.

“I’ll have the others go through the crates and see if they can’t find anything,” Seonghwa said, “maybe try some ice? There should still be some in the ice chest in the galley.”

“Have Jongho bring me some,” Hongjoong requested, “if San gives you too much trouble, send him to me. He’s been getting on my nerves lately.” 

Seonghwa nodded and headed back up to the deck. “You two,” he pointed to Mingi and San, “head below and start opening crates. Set aside any medical or stitching supplies you find. Jongho, Captain needs you to bring him some ice and a clean spare cloth. Yunho, go interrogate the prisoner, figure out what he knows about any shipments of lumber they were going to pick up.”

Jongho immediately did as he was told. He hesitantly entered the captain’s chamber and gasped quietly when he saw Hongjoong’s face. “There’s nothing to worry about,” the captain said, “if you find needle and thread bring it to me immediately, other than that you can work on fixing the hull.” Jongho nodded and left the room without another word. He went to find Seonghwa next. “Hyung, Captain isn’t doing that good. He’s awfully pale and his face looks horrible,” he reported. 

“Thank you, Jongho,” Seonghwa said, “Why don’t you go to the galley and make him something hearty to eat? Use up what’s left of that beef, I’m sure we’ll be at a port soon anyway.”

Jongho nodded. “I’ll save a little for you too,” he said, “you can’t get sick if Captain is gonna be out of commission for a while.”

“We’ll be lucky if he even stays down for a day,” Seonghwa said. Once Jongho went off to the galley, he headed to check on Yunho’s progress.

Yunho had Yeosang by the collar, shoved against the wall. “I highly recommend you start talking sooner rather than later or you’re gonna have more to worry about than losing a couple of fingers,” he growled.

All Yeosang could do was laugh. “The only person who would know is the captain and you killed him!” he cackled. 

“Liar!” Yunho cried. He pulled the prisoner away from the wall to slam him into it again but stopped when he saw Seonghwa standing in the doorway.

Yeosang grunted when he was dropped to the ground, but his head was swimming too much to do anything other than lay there, slumped over himself. With a shaky hand, he wiped the blood off his mouth. 

Yunho kicked the prisoner in the shin before turning his attention to Seonghwa. “He claims not to know anything but I know that’s bullshit,” he said. 

Seonghwa shook his head. “The way he fought the Captain, he might just be a grunt,” he said, “don’t hurt him too bad. Remember, Wooyoungie’s watching.”

Yunho glanced through the bars into the next cell. He was all the more determined to get an answer out of the prisoner when he laid eyes on his lover. Focusing back on the task at hand, he walked over to stand on the man’s hand. “Why don’t you tell me what you do know and if it’s worthwhile, I’ll leave you alone for the rest of the night,” he said. 

Yeosang laughed again. “You think I care?” he spat, “you’ve killed everyone, why don’t you just kill me too?”

“Oh, I would love to let San have his fun with you but the punishment for letting you die is not worth it when I can just watch you suffer,” Yunho said, “fine, if you won’t tell me anything about new shipments. Tell me which crates have medical supplies in them.” He put more weight on the prisoner’s hand. 

“See, see, I  _ would  _ be able to tell you,” Yeosang said, almost gleefully, “but you attacked us! I was interrupted! I hadn’t gotten that far yet and now we’ll never know!”

“Fuck you!” Yunho snarled. He continued to add weight until he was sure he hurt the prisoner. “You useless piece of shit. If it were up to me you’d already be overboard.” With that he stalked out of the cell, making sure it was locked behind him. 

Yeosang pulled his hand to his chest and held it gingerly. At least it wasn’t his dominant hand. He glared at the other man in the doorway. “Get fucked,” he spat. 

“What do you want with him now?” Yunho asked Seonghwa, “I haven’t given him any food or water. Much more and he’s really not gonna talk.”

“Go help Mingi and San,” Seonghwa said, “we’ll deal with him later. Jongho’s making food so hurry it up.”

Yunho nodded once. “I’ll come get you when the food is ready, Wooyoungie,” he promised. With that, he headed upstairs to continue the hunt for medical supplies. 

Seonghwa cast one last look at their prisoners then headed up the stairs. With a slow groan, Yeosang picked himself up and leaned against the wall. That was when he noticed the eyes. 

“I don’t know what to do with him. He can tolerate quite a bit and he doesn’t seem to bend easy. Is it even worth trying to break him?” Yunho asked. 

There was someone sitting in the shadows in the corner, watching him. Yeosang had to blink a few times to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. What had the pirates called him? Wooyoungie? “Wooyoungie,” he said softly, “come help me, Wooyoungie.”

When Jongho finished cooking, he called the crew into the galley. While he waited for them, he brought a bowl to the Captain. “Captain, I made some beef for you,” he said quietly. “Leave it on the desk,” Hongjoong said, gesturing weakly, “find any needles?” Jongho pouted. “No,” he replied. “Keep looking after you’ve all eaten,” Hongjoong ordered. The new cloth Jongho had brought him was slowly starting to soak through. 

The eyes didn’t move, merely stared at him unblinkingly. With a sigh, Yeosang slumped against the wall. So much for that.

Jongho tried to convince Hongjoong to eat but it was fruitless. He disappeared back down to the galley to eat with the crew. He didn’t stay long though. After assigning San to wash the dishes, he went to continue the hunt for medical supplies. 

“I found them!” Mingi finally called after what felt like hours of searching. He shoved the thread and needles into Seonghwa’s hands excitedly, who then took them straight to Hongjoong. 

Hongjoong turned his head when the door opened. When he saw it was Seonghwa, he pushed himself to sit up with a groan. “Find ‘em?” he asked. 

Seonghwa nodded and carried the oil lantern over to the bed. “You hold this, I’ll stitch you up,” he said. 

“I can do it,” Hongjoong said weakly, “I just need the mirror.” He pushed the oil lamp away and reached out for the supplies with one hand. 

“You’ll stab your eye out,” Seonghwa said, pushing Hongjoong back and shoving the lamp into his lap. Like hell he was letting the captain hold a needle near his face with how much blood he’d lost. 

“Seonghwa, back off. That’s an order,” Hongjoong growled. He moved the oil lantern before trying to stand up.

“I don’t care,” Seonghwa said, shoving Hongjoong back down again. “I will fucking sit on you,  _ Captain,  _ don’t try me.”

“Why do you insist on being a brat right now?” Hongjoong growled. He made no move to get up again. “First San, now you. I’m beginning to think I’ve been a little too lax about who’s in charge around here.”

“I am your first mate,” Seonghwa said firmly, “and I’m not stupid enough to listen to you when you’ve lost a good two pints of blood. Will you please let me do this so you don’t lose an eye or get an infection?”

Hongjoong glared up at Seonghwa. “Fine. If you fuck this up, I’m demoting you,” he grumbled. He finally moved the cloth away from his cheek.

Seonghwa rolled his eyes and bent forward to carefully stitch Hongjoong’s face closed. “There,” he said when he was done, “now eat your fucking food and then you can do whatever you want to that mouthy little asshole.”

Hongjoong mumbled a “thank you.” He stayed seated for a little while. If he tried to stand up, he knew he would fall right over. “Has he given you anything helpful?”

“Absolutely nothing,” Seonghwa said, “he claims only the captain knew what they were picking up and where and that he had just started inventorying when we attacked. Which is true; Mingi picked up the inventory book and it’s practically empty.”

“That fucker needs to  _ pay  _ for being useless,” Hongjoong growled, “we should keep him chained so he can’t fight anymore.”

“Pretty sure Yunho just fucked up his hand,” Seonghwa said with a shrug, “he’s certainly a fighter though. Not afraid to challenge our threats, even if we kill him. Navy material, honestly.”

“You would know better than I would how to break him,” Hongjoong said, “let me know what you think would be best and I’ll go down in the morning.” He laid back down and tried to ignore his spinning head. 

“I can tell you the starvation won’t,” Seonghwa said, “but he seems particularly bullheaded.”

“Still feed him the old food first. I'd rather him get sick than you guys. How long does he have to be left alone until he’ll crack?” Hongjoong asked. 

“No idea,” Seonghwa said, “military trainings vary from year to year and are meant to make recruits be able to withstand torture. He doesn’t look too young, so he was probably a class or two after me.”

Hongjoong sighed. “I don’t want to wait the ten days. He’s not going to tell us anything. Let San have his fun with him tomorrow and we’ll go from there,” he said. 

“Does he have to wait until tomorrow?” Seonghwa asked, “he’s raring to go now.”

“Let him then,” Hongjoong said with a wave of his arm. “As long as he doesn’t kill him, I don’t care what he does.”

Seonghwa nodded. San would be happy to hear that. “Eat your soup,” he threatened before getting up to go find the younger man. 

Hongjoong sighed. He carefully stood up and all but collapsed into the desk chair. He dug into the soup and made a mental note to compliment Jongho. The boy’s cooking had improved quite a bit since he joined the crew. 

“San!” Seonghwa called across the deck, “it’s your turn. Don’t kill him.”

San’s eyes lit up. “No promises!” he called as he all but skipped across the deck to head down to the brig. 

Yeosang was dazedly watching the corner. Wooyoung’s eyes had closed long ago and he still wasn’t entirely convinced that he wasn’t a hallucination altogether. 

San let the hilt of his sword clang along the bars all the way down to the prisoner’s cell. “Rise and shine, bitch!” he said when he saw how out of it the prisoner looked, “it’s time for me to finally have my fun.” He smiled wickedly as he unlocked the cell door and pushed it open.

Yeosang looked up at the pirate with an unimpressed look in his eyes. “Oh, good, there’s more of you,” he said listlessly. 

San used the hilt of his sword to smack the prisoner in the mouth. “I don’t want to hear a word out of you,” he said. He did a once over to assess the damage done so far. “Wow, they really let you off easy, huh?” He left the cell for a moment to find some chains. Not caring about the prisoner’s bruised hand, he attached one to each ankle and wrist. 

“Wooyoungie’s watching,” Yeosang repeated, “that’s what they said.”

“Wooyoung can watch all he wants. He knows what he’ll get if he tries anything,” San snarked. He first fastened the prisoner’s ankle chains to some of the lower bars, then he worried about attaching his wrist chains to loops hanging from the ceiling. “Now I don’t have to worry about holding you up.” He kicked the prisoner in the gut, watching him double over and making sure the chains held. 

Yeosang grunted when a heavy boot made contact with his stomach. That was fine. He was trained for that. In fact, there were few things he wasn’t trained to withstand. He just hoped that the pirates never stumbled on what they were.

San sheathed his sword before pulling out a pocket knife. He walked over to the prisoner and tilted his chin up. “You’re so lucky I can’t kill you,” he whispered. He flipped open the knife and dragged it along the man’s cheek. “For what you did to our captain.” He put the knife in his other hand and socked the man in the jaw. “For what you did to my friend.” Knowing the brig got cold easily, especially at night, he began cutting away at the prisoner’s clothes, not caring if he nicked his body. 

Yeosang did what he had always done during training: he dissociated. They could break his body all they wanted, but they would never reach his mind, not like this. 

When the prisoner’s clothes were littered on the floor in useless strips, San stepped back. “You’re lucky you’re pretty or you’d be shark food right now,” he growled. When the prisoner didn’t respond he grabbed his chin and shook his head. “Hey! I’m talking to you. Show some fucking respect.”

Yeosang stared up at the pirate, hate in his eyes, then spit directly in his face. “I don’t respect men who murder children,” he snarled. 

San wiped the spit off of his face and smeared it right back on the prisoner’s. “And I don’t respect useless bastards who end up on my ship yet here we are,” he said. He flipped his knife open again. “If you spit on me again, I’ll cut your dick off.”

“Gonna use it to go fuck yourself?” Yeosang taunted. 

“You wish,” San growled, “I bet you could use a good fuck to put you in your place. Too bad you’re too filthy for me to even think about touching. I’m sure the Captain’ll think differently though.” He took a step back and looked the prisoner up and down, trying to find what wasn’t damaged. 

Ah. He had hit the nail on the head. That was the one thing the military hadn’t trained him for. Hopefully, they’d all be too disgusted to use it. 

San smirked to himself as he looked down at the prisoner. He grabbed his arm and held it against the back wall so he could carve his name into his bicep. “Enjoy your tattoo,” San snarked. He moved slowly and meticulously, letting the knife drag across the skin. When he was done, he delivered one more kick to the prisoner’s kneecap and took his leave. 

From the corner, dark eyes watched the actions occurring between San and the new prisoner. He had seen many other men go through the same. Most hadn’t made it through the night. 

San had a bounce in his step as he rejoined the crew. It felt good to give the prisoner what he deserved. 

Yeosang looked up and saw the eyes again. “Are you real?” he asked dumbly. Wooyoung scoffed. “Of course I’m real,” he said. 

“And?” Yunho asked when San made his reappearance. “That bitch deserves worse than what he got but it’s fine for now. I can’t wait to cut a finger off in the morning,” San replied. 

“How long have you been here?” Yeosang asked. “I don’t know,” Wooyoung said, “years.” He finally moved forward into the dim light, chains clanking with him. Around his neck was a heavy iron band. 

“Hopefully Captain’s feeling better tomorrow. What that bastard really needs is a good fuck to put him in his place,” San said. “From what Seonghwa hyung said, it’s not looking too good,” Yunho said quietly. 

Yeosang took in Wooyoung’s appearance, from his ratty sweater to the dirty underwear to the heavy iron and its chain. He looked young. If he had been here for years, he must have been just a child when he’d been brought aboard. He cleared his throat. “I’m Yeosang,” he offered. “I didn’t ask,” Wooyoung said coldly. 

“Not looking good?” San asked, “that can’t be right! He has a prisoner to take care of.” Yunho just shrugged. 

“You won’t make the night,” Wooyoung said, “I’d prepare for it now.”

After that San just went about helping with the inventory. All of the medical supplies stayed with Seonghwa so he could bring them to the captain. 

“So what makes you so special that they’ll stop torture for you?” Yeosang asked. “Why do you care?” Wooyoung retorted. “Well, I’ll be dead soon, so I might as well take someone’s secret to the grave with me,” Yeosang replied. Wooyoung sighed heavily. “Yunho loves me,” he said, “or he thinks he does.”

When the inventory was done, San snuck up to his room to wash up and go to bed. He was absolutely exhausted and was looking forward to a good night’s rest. 

Yeosang eyed the shackle with a raised eyebrow. “Clearly,” he drawled. 

Yunho finally managed to duck downstairs. “Wooyoungie? Are you ready to go up?” he asked in a gentle voice. He smiled when he reached the cell. “Hi, love. The prisoner hasn’t been bothering you too much, right?”

Wooyoung carefully got to his feet, leaving all of his weight on the right foot. “He’s been fine,” he said coldly, choosing only to acknowledge one part of what Yunho had said. 

“Good. If he tries anything you tell me, okay?”Yunho said. He carefully undid all of the shackles before taking hold of Wooyoung’s wrist. “We’ll get you something to eat first and then we’ll go to my room. If you’re good, you can stay the night with me.”

Wooyoung let Yunho hold his hand limply and drag him along through the corridors. He tried to ignore the threat, but it was plastered everywhere. 

Yunho first brought Wooyoung to the galley to eat. While his lover was sitting and eating, Yunho played with his hair. “I missed you today. You haven’t even asked if I’m okay,” he said sadly. 

“You’re clearly fine,” Wooyoung said coldly, “I’m not blind.”

Yunho narrowed his eyes. “That fucker nailed me in the jaw! And it still hurts,” he whined. He draped himself over Wooyoung’s back. “But you can make me feel all better and make up for not seeing me today,” he purred.

“Did you deserve it?” Wooyoung asked, “he called San a child murderer.”

“He’s fucking delusional. And I most certainly did not deserve it. San was provoking him and he took it out on me,” Yunho said. 

“Poor baby,” Wooyoung said sarcastically, “how will you ever survive?”

Yunho ignored the sarcasm. “That’s what I have you for. Now come on and finish eating. I want to go upstairs,” he said. 

Wooyoung tried to draw out eating as long as he could. He did not want to think about what would be happening when they went up to Yunho’s quarters. 

The moment Wooyoung put his spoon down on the table, Yunho grabbed his hand again and dragged him upstairs. He locked the door behind them and crawled into bed, laying on his back. “I want you to make me feel better,” he said. 

Wooyoung stayed near the door. This was how it often went. Yunho would expect him to do this willingly, he would resist, and he’d get forced into it anyway. So much for love. 

“Come on, Wooyoungie,” Yunho whined, “I’ve had a really long day and I don’t want to do this the hard way. Can’t you be a good boy for once?”

Wooyoung scoffed. The day he did anything for Yunho willingly was the day his spirit was truly broken, and that day was not today.

Yunho sighed. “Alright, let’s go,” he said flatly. He stood up from the bed and dragged Wooyoung over to it. He pushed his lover face down on the mattress and held him there by the back of his neck. 

Wooyoung fought as much as he could but Yunho was simply too strong. As soon as he was on the bed, all the fight went out of him.

“I told you I had a bad day and this is how you act?” Yunho growled, “what did that prisoner tell you, huh? Is he encouraging you to act like this?” Using his free hand, he pulled Wooyoung’s pants down to his thighs. 

Wooyoung whimpered. “I w-watched you beat him up,” he stuttered, “why would I wanna fuck you after that?”

“Oh, Wooyoung, don’t tell me you’ve gone soft. You know that’s part of my job and you know this is part of yours,” Yunho growled, “now I recommend you keep your pretty mouth shut for the rest of the night before I have to shut you up myself.”

Wooyoung whimpered but didn’t say anything else. He would never say it out loud, but Yunho terrified him. 

Yunho took his frustrations out on Wooyoung. He wasn’t worried about hurting his lover; he knew he liked it rough. When he was finally satisfied, he collapsed into bed next to Wooyoung and gathered the younger man into his arms. 

Wooyoung no longer cried for himself. Like Yeosang seemed to do, he simply turned himself off and just let things happen. The last time he’d tried to make any manner of an escape, Yunho had nearly beat him to death, so he didn’t try anymore. 

Yunho kept a firm grip on Wooyoung to make sure he didn’t go anywhere. More than anything, he loved the nights he got to spend with his lover. Since the Captain was out of commission for a little while, hopefully they would have some more nights like this. When the sun started to rise the following morning, Yunho regretfully got Wooyoung dressed and brought him back downstairs.

Yeosang blearily opened his eyes when the brig door scraped open. Wooyoung looked only a little worse for the wear as Yunho kissed him forcefully before shoving him back in the cell and locking him in. 

Yunho didn’t even afford the prisoner a glance. “I’ll be back down for you later,” he said to Wooyoung, “don’t go learning any nasty tricks from the prisoner or I’ll have to move you again.”

Yeosang sneered. He would have spit at Yunho again if his mouth wasn’t completely dried out.

Yunho gave Wooyoung a once over before heading to the deck to report to Seonghwa. “What’s our next move?” he asked.

“I believe the captain plans on visiting our prisoner today,” Seonghwa said, “the log book shows that they were going to pick up a shipment at Daipori Port, so we’ll head in that direction for now.”

San raised his eyebrows. “Captain? Is gonna visit the prisoner?” he asked, unconvinced. He scoffed and shook his head. “That’ll go well.”

“Hopefully, Cap will be able to break him a bit,” Mingi said, “I’ll have a go at him if not.” As he said it, Hongjoong finally emerged from his cabin. 

Hongjoong had taken a strip of cloth and tied it so that it covered his cheek and eye. It was bloodsoaked from the previous evening but it was all he had for now. “And you’re all standing here having a coffee break because?” he asked, glancing between his crew members. 

Seonghwa smiled to himself as the crew scrambled to get to work. “We weren’t able to get anything out of him last night, but their log shows where their next shipment was,” he reported, “hopefully, you’ll be able to get more out of him.”

Hongjoong nodded. Pleased that they had at least found out something. “He’ll regret not telling me what I want if he stays quiet,” he said simply, “keep San out of trouble by having him help Johngo with the repairs.” Once he was sure the crew was busy, he headed down to the brig to see the prisoner. 

Yeosang looked up when the door opened again and was delighted to see the red haired captain. “Finally grew the balls to come pick on me yourself,” he said. 

Hongjoong rolled his eyes. “I see San didn’t do a very good job with you,” he commented. He made a mental note to send the younger man down later to take one of the prisoner’s fingers. He opened the door to the cell and reveled in how the prisoner couldn’t move, let alone escape, with the chains holding him up.

“The beauty of the navy,” Yeosang drawled, “none of this is even half as bad as the military. Try again,  _ Capitan _ .”

Hongjoong had half a mind to take the cloth from his face and fashion a gag out of it. Actually, he had a whole mind. He untied the cloth, not caring what he looked like, and walked across the cell. 

Yeosang grimaced when the bloody rag was shoved into his mouth. That was highly disgusting. He glared at the captain. 

Hongjoong smirked. “Ah, silence. It’s nice isn’t it? Isn’t it nice, Wooyoung, when the prisoner isn’t running his mouth?” he asked rhetorically, “now they told me they couldn’t get anything out of you and I highly doubt that you know nothing. So what will it take? No food? San to come back?” He cupped the prisoner’s cheek. “No no. I don’t think any of that will do at all. Has Wooyoung told you the things we do to people who don’t cooperate?”

“Don’t involve me in this,” Wooyoung muttered, “I’m not the crazy one here.”

“Be careful, Wooyoungie. Yunho won’t be too happy with you if I tell him you’re running your mouth,” Hongjoong warned. He turned his attention back to the prisoner. “Now. Maybe you really don’t know anything. But even then you’re still not useless to me. Even with the slash in your cheek you’re still pretty enough to be a plaything. I’d quite like that. My last one wasn’t nearly as pretty as you. How does that sound?” He chuckled quietly. 

Yeosang couldn’t say anything through the rag, but he narrowed his eyes in displeasure. That was the last thing he wanted. 

Hongjoong chuckled again. “Let’s see if you feel good enough to be a play thing,” he said. He unfastened the chains on the prisoner’s wrists and didn’t bother trying to hold him up. 

Yeosang grunted as he fell to the ground and immediately pulled the rag out of his mouth. “Touch me and you will fucking regret it,” he spat.

Hongjoong couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Please. I’d love to hear how I’d regret this. What are you gonna do? No one on this ship is gonna help you,” he taunted. 

“You’re not armed,” Yeosang said, “we’re on even footing now. I’ll fucking kill you for real this time.”

“How foolish of you to think I need a sword to defend myself,” Hongjoong said, “and even more so to think your threats are going to stop me.” Ignoring the prisoner’s threats, he grabbed him and did his best to manhandle him onto his hands and knees. 

Yeosang has forgotten that his feet were still shackled and made the mistake of kicking out at the captain, nearly breaking his ankle in the process. He punched and scratched as wildly as he could. 

Hongjoong grabbed onto one of the prisoner’s arms after he was scratched and was careful to dodge the other. He couldn’t do anything with him moving so much so he bade his time and waited patiently. 

Yeosang gritted his teeth and brought his elbow up. When he brought it down, it hit the captain’s face almost exactly where he’d cut him the day before. 

Hongjoong cried out in pain when the prisoner’s bony elbow collided with his already injured cheek. His patience snapped in that moment and he grabbed the man’s neck and squeezed. Blood started dripping down his cheek from where his stitches had come out. 

A choked gurgling sound came out of Yeosang’s throat and he swung his head forward, slamming it right into the captain’s nose. “Fuck you,” he spat once the man had let him go. 

Hongjoong grunted when he felt his nose crack. “That’s it,” he growled. He kicked the prisoner hard in the chest. Before the man had a chance to recover, Hongjoong had him back on his hands and knees and had pushed his own pants down. Thankfully San had taken care of the prisoner’s clothes for him. 

Yeosang grunted when a boot connected with his chest. He did his best to throw the pirate off of him, but it simply wasn’t happening. 

“You have been nothing but a pain in my ass since we found you. And now I get to return the favor,” Hongjoong said with a wicked smirk. He kept one hand on the prisoner, in case he tried anything, and used the other to stroke himself a few times. Forgoing oil or any other prep, he lined himself up and wasted no time pushing in. 

Yeosang screamed in pain as the captain fucked into him harshly. It hurt so badly. The pain was so overwhelming and distracting that he couldn’t separate himself from it. 

“Where’s your courage now?” Hongjoong snarled, “where’s your fight? Huh? You talked a big game but you’re just the same as every bitch that’s come through here.” He continued to pound into the prisoner harshly, not showing him any mercy. 

Yeosang sobbed, unable to move under the captain’s weight. He felt an odd substance running down the inside of his thigh. Blood. He was bleeding. 

Hongjoong didn’t bother to pull out before he came. He wanted the prisoner to know who he belonged to know. When he finally finished and pulled out, he pushed the man down so that he was lying on the floor. “You certainly do make a good fuck,” he said. He pulled his pants back up to his waist and left without another word, locking the cell behind him. He desperately needed to wash up. 

Yeosang laid on the ground in shock, tears still running down his face. He knew they were crazy, but he hadn’t expected the captain to go so far. It hurt to even move, so he didn’t. “Don’t try to fight them,” Wooyoung said softly from the corner, “we’re not even people to them.”

Hongjoong looked at his cheek in the mirror. It had swelled up again and some of the stitching needed to be redone. He needed to find Seonghwa to get the needle and thread from him. His nose was crooked so he reset it, ignoring the loud crack and sharp pain, before it could reheal. 

Yeosang didn’t know if he had fallen asleep or passed out, but he woke to see the crazy one (San? Was that his name?) standing over him, holding a knife. He didn’t even have the energy to try moving away, let alone put up a fight. 

San smirked down at the prisoner’s naked, bruised, and still bleeding body. “Look who woke up just in time for the main event! Cap sent me down here to do the dirty work for him, of course. But! He let me have the pick of what finger you lose first. How exciting!” he crowed, “but it seems like you’ve had it kinda rough so I’ll go easy on you.” He picked up the prisoner’s bruised hand. “You won’t even feel it.”

“San, you’re gonna kill him,” Wooyoung cut in, “he’s already bleeding and dehydrated. If Hongjoong plans on keeping him alive, you can’t do this tonight.” 

San pouted. “But this was the deal! A finger a night and then we get to dump him,” he whined, “and who the fuck are you to address the Captain like this?”

“Someone who has absolutely zero respect for him or any of the rest of you,” Wooyoung deadpanned, “I’m just saying, check with him to make sure he doesn’t care if Yeosang bleeds to death tonight.”

“You’re lucky Yunho adores you or I’d have thrown you overboard a long time ago,” San grumbled. He glared down at the prisoner and kicked him in the side before leaving to go back upstairs. He stomped all the way to the Captain’s quarters, ignoring the rest of the crew. 

Yeosang struggled to push himself up and sit back against the wall of the cell. “Don’t help me,” he said hoarsely, “let them kill me if they want to.”

“Captain, Wooyoung said if I take a finger the prisoner’ll bleed to death tonight. I think it’s a bunch of bullshit and that he’s just siding with him,” San reported. “Don’t do it then,” Hongjoong said simply. “What!?” San cried, “you’re giving in? To a whore and a useless bitch?” The resulting slap across his cheek sent him to his knees. “ _ You  _ do not get to challenge me, Choi San, or you will share a worse fate then they do. Now get out of my sight and if I hear you even so much as go down to the brig without my permission, I’ll start cutting  _ your _ fingers off,” Hongjoong snapped. San nodded and rushed out of the room, trying to get to his own without being seen. 

Yeosang was surprised when San never showed back up. “Fuck you,” he finally said to Wooyoung, “all you talked about before was how I wouldn’t make the night, now you’re trying to help me? I don’t want it.”

When Jongho came to bring him food, Hongjoong thanked him and sent him to find Seonghwa with instructions. The first was to rough San up in the hopes of putting him back in his place and the second was to bring him the needle and thread. 

Seonghwa left the roughing up to Mingi and Yunho while he went to bring the supplies to Hongjoong. He felt more confident in the Captain’s hands now and didn’t protest when he wanted to do it himself. 

“Thank you, Seonghwa,” Hongjoong said when he was given the supplies, “you are dismissed. Make sure they don’t go too easy on San. And you can send Jongho down with some food and water for the two in the brig.” He stood up and walked over to the mirror. 

“Are you actually considering keeping him?” Seonghwa asked, surprised, “what happened to no food or water, let’s see how long he lasts?”

“Well, no food and water isn’t going to make him crack. I doubt any info he knows will be of much value anyway. We can find our own lumber. I think he would make a rather nice trophy. He’s pretty and once he learns a few more manners, he’ll be perfect,” Hongjoong said, “he’s a better fuck than the last plaything I had at least.”

“You and Yunho,” Seonghwa said with a sigh, “I do not understand the two of you and your hobbies.”

“Yunho actually loves Wooyoung.  _ I  _ just want a good fuck,” Hongjoong explained, “and no one’s stopping you. You have a crew of men that have to listen to what you say.”

“Jongho is  _ a child _ , Mingi is stupid, San is insane, and Yunho is preoccupied,” Seonghwa listed off, “and you cannot tell me you think he  _ actually  _ loves Wooyoung. Look at the way he treats him.”

“And listen to the way he talks about him. Yunho is head over heels for Wooyoung, he just hasn’t figured out how to separate personal life from work yet,” Hongjoong said. 

“Obsession is not love, Captain,” Seonghwa said stiffly. He took his leave then, not waiting for Hongjoong’s retort. He really didn’t condone this sort of behavior, but he didn’t have the authority to say anything. Instead, he went to the galley and plated some food for Wooyoung. He grabbed the bin of food waste on his way out for the other prisoner. 

Hongjoong sighed. For coming out of the navy, Seonghwa had quite a bit of humanity. It was rather annoying sometimes. Shaking it off, he focused on stitching up his cheek again. 

“Wooyoungie, here’s dinner,” Seonghwa said, sliding the plate under the lowest of the bars. The other prisoner was slumped against the back wall of the brig, seemingly unconscious, so Seonghwa just dropped the box of scraps on the floor unceremoniously. He looked somewhat familiar but he couldn’t place why.

San was curled up in bed still clutching his cheek when he heard two pairs of footsteps approaching. He sat up and dropped his hand to his lap just as the door swung open. 

Mingi stayed a step behind Yunho. He knew the older man would get much more pleasure out of beating up San than he would. 

San was about to greet his friends but he stopped when he saw their smirks. “W-What’s going on?” he asked. “We got orders to come rough you up for smartmouthing the captain,” Yunho replied. “Whoa, that’s not necessary! I’ve gotten enough punishment. It won’t happen ag-” San didn’t have a chance to finish his sentence before he was dragged out of bed and socked in the eye. 

Mingi did his job as the lackey, holding San up and still so Yunho could do his job. He wasn’t much of a fighter himself unless the situation called for it. 

San tried to fight against Mingi but the taller man was too strong for him. Finally he gave up and just accepted the punches and kicks from Yunho. In all of his years on the ship, the captain had never ordered any of the other crew to do something like this and never once had they turned so easily on each other. He doubled over coughing when Yunho suddenly punched him in the gut and weakly held up an arm. “Enough, please,” he begged. 

Mingi let San go, unintentionally shoving him into his bed. “That’s enough, man,” he said to Yunho, “take the rest out on Wooyoung, alright?”

San collapsed into bed feeling numb. He didn’t even realize his hands were shaking. Yunho took one last look at his crewmate before leaving the room and going downstairs to get Wooyoung. 

Wooyoung was scared. Yeosang still hadn’t woken up since the last time he’d passed out. He didn’t want to hope that he was still alive, but him making it through the night had already done that. He jumped nearly a mile in the air when the door suddenly slammed open. 

“Can you believe San was less well behaved than you were today? He’s gonna get himself kicked off the ship at this rate,” Yunho grumbled. 

Wooyoung shrunk back a bit. Yunho was angry, and that never boded well for him. 

Yunho quickly released Wooyoung from all of his chains and roughly hauled him to his room. “If you start acting up too, I am  _ not  _ going to take it easy on you,” he warned. 

Wooyoung did the only thing he knew to do in this situation: he kept completely mum. He let Yunho manhandle him and spit vile things in his ear and took it all without protest.

Yunho was grateful that Wooyoung didn’t protest for once. He let the pent up anger drain out of him as he fucked his lover and then collapsed into a heap on the bed, feeling much better. “Isn’t it so much more enjoyable when you’re good? You can stay up here tomorrow as a reward. But if you’re caught wandering, I can’t save you,” Yunho said. He gathered Wooyoung in his arms and held him tightly. 

“I’m sore,” Wooyoung said quietly, speaking for the first time in hours. He wondered if Yunho would let him take a bath.

“Oh, baby, come here,” Yunho mumbled. He dropped his hand and massaged his lover’s thigh. “You’ll feel better in no time.” 

“I’m dirty too,” Wooyoung said, trying to prod Yunho. The older man had to think it was his own idea for Wooyoung to clean up, or he’d be called a greedy bitch and fucked all over again.

“Well, I don’t want you dirtying my room if you stay up here tomorrow,” Yunho mused, “come on, let’s go take a bath. We haven’t done that in a while.”

It wasn’t exactly what Wooyoung had wanted, but it was good enough. He sat on the bed while Yunho went to the galley to boil some bathwater. 

When the bath was ready, Yunho scooped up Wooyoung and brought him with him. They didn’t really fit as well as he wished but it was good enough for him. He held Wooyoung tightly so he wouldn’t get any ideas.

Wooyoung wiggled as best as he could. “How am I supposed to get clean if you won’t let me wash?” he complained. 

“Just relax for a minute and then I’ll let you get clean. I want to enjoy this too,” Yunho said, “and stop moving. You’re gonna spill all the water.”

“It isn’t to enjoy,” Wooyoung huffed, “it’s to get clean before the water’s freezing.”

“Well,  _ I  _ want to enjoy this. Don’t ruin your reward before you even get it,” Yunho snapped. He just wanted to relax after the day he had. 

Wooyoung huffed and crossed his arms. He didn’t particularly enjoy being held tightly in Yunho’s naked lap either. 

“Oh, baby, don’t be like this. The longer you make a fuss, the longer I’ll stay in here,” Yunho threatened. When he was finally satisfied a little while later, he pulled himself out of the tub. “You have five minutes to wash up,” he said. 

Of course, by the time Yunho decided to get out, the water was freezing cold. Wooyoung scrubbed himself as quickly as possible before getting out and dressing again in his dirty, ratty clothing. 

When Wooyoung was dressed, Yunho dragged him back to bed. He wrapped his lover in a blanket before holding him tightly. Wooyoung’s rough shirt hurt his arms. 

Wooyoung wished he could fight it, just pull away and go back downstairs to what was at least his own space, sort of. He didn’t want to be near Yunho, ever. 

Yunho drifted off to sleep not long after that with a content smile on his face. Being with Wooyoung just made him so happy.

Wooyoung was grateful that Yunho was a deep sleeper, but he was also a heavy sleeper. His grip grew exponentially tighter once he was asleep and the poor boy had no hope for escape. 

Several rooms down, San laid staring at the wall. His body ached so much that he couldn’t fall asleep. Even after their last battle, he hadn’t gotten roughed up this badly. 

Even further down the hall, Mingi couldn’t sleep either. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the eyes of the child, the one he’d found hiding behind barrels on the merchant ship. He’d killed him, because the captain’s rule was no survivors. 

They were going to pay, San decided. Mingi and Yunho for listening to the captain and doing this to him. And the Captain for sending other people to do his dirty work.

Even though he was a pirate and killed on the regular, Mingi still had a strict moral code he followed. No kids, no pets, no grandmas. He had broken that and now he couldn’t sleep.

San was eventually done pitying himself. He grabbed his knife and pulled himself out of bed. He stalked down the hallway trying to hide his limp.

Mingi wasn’t concerned by the creaking in the hallway. After all, there was creaking everywhere on this damn boat. 

San knew Yunho would be with Wooyoung so his best bet was going to Mingi’s room first. He pushed open the door and locked it behind him before he spoke. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” he spat. 

When Mingi’s door opened and he caught sight of San’s knife, he knew the rest of the night was not going to go well. “I was just the grunt, man,” he complained. 

“So we just go along with anything now? What happened to protecting our own? This whole fucking ship has gone soft and I’m fucking sick of it,” San snapped. 

“It was captain’s orders,” Mingi said, “I’m not about to start a mutiny, San.”

“Captain’s not right! He’s been off since he decided bringing a prisoner here was a good idea! And for some reason, we’re still listening to him,” San snapped, desperately trying to keep his voice down.

“San, I’m not in the mood right now,” Mingi said heavily, “go bother Yunho or Seonghwa.”

“Fuck you!” San spat, “I wasn’t in the mood to get beat for no reason but here we are. You’re no better than the fucking useless scum that’s sitting in our brig right now. You deserve what he got too.” He turned on his heel and left the room. It really was Yunho’s fault that it hurt to walk so he decided to take it out on the older man. With a wicked smile on his face, he walked back down the hall and snuck into the room. 

Wooyoung was still awake, struggling to breathe with Yunho’s arms wrapped tightly around his neck, when the door creaked open. “San, please,” he gasped, tugging at the forearm currently crushing the iron collar into his windpipe. 

Oh, this was perfect. San walked across the room and struck Yunho sharply in the side of the head. When his crewmate jerked awake, San took advantage of his disoriented state to pull Wooyoung from his arms and drag him back across the room. Before Yunho could register what was going on, San had opened his knife and held it against Wooyoung’s throat. 

Wooyoung gasped when he was dragged out of bed and held at knifepoint. He  _ hated  _ himself. He wanted off this boat so badly, but he was too scared of death to ever try what was really the only option. 

Yunho leapt out of bed. “Uh, uh, uh. I wouldn’t come much closer if I was you,” San threatened, pushing the knife more insistently against Wooyoung’s throat. “Leave him out of this, San,” Yunho growled, “if you’re mad at me, handle it like a man.” “Oh, don’t worry. I am handling it like a man. A smart man,” San said nonchalantly. He moved the knife from Wooyoung’s neck to his side. He pushed the younger man’s shirt up so Yunho could see what he was doing. “For my black eye,” he said as he made a slice. “For my sprained ankle,” he moved the knife and made another slice. “You motherfucker,” Yunho growled, taking another step. San’s hand flew back up to Wooyoung’s neck. 

Wooyoung whimpered in pain every time the knife slid across his skin. He didn’t want to scream. That would draw the attention of the captain, which would just make San even more unhinged.

San continued making tally marks on Wooyoung’s side for everything Yunho had done to him. His hand slipped on one cut and he sliced much deeper into Wooyoung’s side than he meant to. “Whoops! You should probably take care of that before it gets infected,” San said. He released his hold on Wooyoung, letting him tumble to the ground and leaving the room, just as Yunho leapt across the room and knelt down next to Wooyoung. 

Wooyoung scrambled to his feet and backed away from Yunho. “Don’t touch me!” he cried, “this is your fault!”

“This is not my fault!” Yunho insisted, standing up too. “Mingi and I were just following orders. I wasn’t about to get my ass beat for going against Cap. Especially for San. Now get over here so I can help you get cleaned up.”

“Don’t  _ touch _ me!” Wooyoung said again, nearing tears now. His side hurt so badly and the last thing he wanted was for Yunho to get near him. 

Yunho’s eyes narrowed. “You are dripping blood all over my floor. I am not going to ask again. Get over here so I can clean your side and we can go back to bed and or I’ll give you to San for the rest of the night,” he said flatly. 

“Do it,” Wooyoung challenged, taking a note from Yeosang’s book, “I’d rather him than  _ you _ .”

Yunho’s lips curled into a snarl. “You fucking brat. And to think I was going to let you stay up here tomorrow,” he snapped. He grabbed Wooyoung roughly by the arm and dragged him out of the room, but instead of bringing him back to San, he dragged him back down to the brig. 

Wooyoung stumbled along behind Yunho, barely keeping up with his long legs. He grunted when he was thrown to the ground in the brig and the cell door slammed shut. He was screwed now. 

Yunho was seething. Something needed to be done about San and soon. He didn’t want Wooyoung to get dragged into this mess anymore than he already was. 

Yeosang jerked awake when the metal of a cell door clanged shut. He saw Wooyoung huddled in a heap on the ground. “Shit, what did he do to you?” he asked, when he noticed the blood. 

Yunho went to go find San but he was nowhere to be found. He wasn’t in his room, he wasn’t on the deck. The slippery bastard had somehow managed to hide himself and Yunho wasn’t going to let him get away that easy. 

“San cut me,” Wooyoung gasped. He sat up and put his hand over the deepest of the wounds. Looking around, Yeosang gathered up the tatters of his clothes and pushed them to Wooyoung as best as he could. “Pressure,” he instructed. 

Yunho explored every inch of the ship he dared to go at this hour and he couldn’t find San. He cursed to himself. The younger man was going to be lucky if he was alive after Yunho caught him. 

Wooyoung grabbed the pile of rags and held them tightly to the cut on his abdomen. “Try not to fall asleep,” Yeosang said, “whenever the first mate comes back, I’ll see if we can’t get you some saline and real bandages.”

San sat high in the crow’s nest, gleefully watching Yunho hunt for him. When his crewmate disappeared from view, he ducked back down and stretched out. No one would find him up here until the morning. 

Throughout the night, Wooyoung’s condition continued to deteriorate. He became feverish and his breathing rattled in his chest. Yeosang laid as close to the bars separating them as he could, talking to Wooyoung to keep him awake. 

When the sun started to rise, San debated going back down but he decided against it. If someone really needed him, they could find him. Slowly the sound of footsteps filled the deck below him and he smiled to himself. While the rest of the crew got to work, Yunho ducked downstairs to check on Wooyoung. 

Yeosang sat up when the door scraped open and Yunho stepped into the brig. He didn’t say anything, waiting to see just how the pirate would act. 

Yunho kept his eyes forward, not looking at the prisoner. When he got to Wooyoung’s cell and saw his lover barely conscious and bleeding out on the floor, he rushed in and dropped to his knees. “Oh, Wooyoungie, it’s okay, I’m here now,” he clicked his tongue, “if you let me help you last night, we wouldn’t be here right now.”

All Wooyoung could do was groan. “He needs saline and clean bandages,” Yeosang finally said.

“What the fuck do you know?” Yunho spat. He put his hand over Wooyoung’s and helped him keep the pressure. 

“Certainly more than you,” Yeosang retorted calmly, “but if you want him to die, I guess you can just ignore me.”

Yunho huffed. He glanced down at Wooyoung and then back up at the prisoner. Growling to himself, he stood up and went above deck to find Seonghwa. 

“I’ll tell you what container it’s in if you bring me clean water!” Yeosang called after Yunho. Wooyoung groaned again and Yeosang laid back down, petting his hair as best as he could. 

Yunho approached Seonghwa slowly. “San hurt Wooyoungie pretty bad last night and the prisoner said he needs saline and some clean bandages. He also said he’d tell us what container it’s in if we bring him clean water but I don’t know if we can trust him,” he said. 

“Your call,” Seonghwa said, “just don’t let the captain catch you.”

Yunho exhaled shakily. “San’s hiding somewhere. If you find him, can you hold him for me? I’m sick of his shit,” he requested. 

“If he attacked Wooyoung last night?” Seonghwa asked skeptically, “I don’t wanna go anywhere near him. Good luck though.”

Yunho frowned. “If you and Captain don’t do something about him and soon, I’m gonna kill him myself,” he threatened. He turned on his heel and went to get clean water for Wooyoung and the prisoner.

Yeosang sat up again when Yunho returned, eyeing the tin cup of water hungrily. “Water first or I tell you nothing,” he said, “I don’t trust you.”

“If you’re lying to me, this will be the last cup of water you get,” Yunho promised. He reluctantly handed the cup over to the prisoner.

Yeosang drank the water greedily, but forced himself not to finish it yet. “One of the crates, eighty-six I believe, has a bunch of silver tin canisters,” he said, “those are saline. I don’t believe there were any actual bandages in the shipment, but there should be a crate in seventies that has clothing in it that you could rip up and use.”

Yunho left the brig again and went to where they had moved the crates. “Mingi, I need help. Look in the crates in the seventies and get me any clothes that can be used as rags,” he said. 

Yeosang knew he needed the water, but he also knew that Wooyoung needed it more. He coaxed the younger man to sit up and carefully helped him drink the water through the bars. 

Yunho was shocked but relieved when Mingi brought him some clothes and he was able to find a tin canister. He rushed back down to the brig with both items. “Now what?” he asked. 

“That one really deep one, you need to flush it with the saline,” Yeosang said, “be liberal with it, really clean it out. Hopefully, the infection isn’t too deep.”

Yunho pushed Wooyoung’s shirt a little higher and moved the cloth from the wounds. He cleaned the deepest cut out with saline, making sure it was as clean as he could get it. “Wrap it?” he asked. 

Yeosang shook his head, eyes half lidded. “Pack it first,” he said, “shove as much cloth in there as you can and then wrap it tight. You should clean the other cuts too.”

Yunho did as he was told, washing out the rest of the cuts and packing the deepest one. He wrapped as much as he could in the excess cloth and finally sat back. “If he dies, you won’t be far behind,” he said quietly. 

“I was a medical officer in the Royal Navy for five years, I know what the fuck I’m doing,” Yeosang retorted, “he needs clean water and thin foods, probably soup for now.”

Yunho ignored the prisoner’s tone and made another trip upstairs for food and water for Wooyoung. “How did you end up on a merchant ship?” he asked as he helped his lover drink some water. 

“Got an honorable discharge and didn’t have any other skills,” Yeosang said, “spent the last two years as a grunt. Rank doesn’t matter to the merchants, just wealth.”

Yunho didn’t respond. He didn’t know why he was so curious about the prisoner anyway. He helped Wooyoung eat a little bit of soup before setting the bowl aside. “It’s gonna be okay, baby. When this is all said and done, I’m gonna kill him myself,” he said. 

“Captain’ll kill you,” Wooyoung mumbled softly. He was nearly sweating to death in these clothes, but he was freezing at the same time. 

“No, he won’t. Not after he hears what San’s done to you,” Yunho said. He pulled Wooyoung closer and held him tightly. 

“He doesn’t care,” Wooyoung said. He hated that he gravitated toward Yunho’s warmth. 

“He can’t afford to kill me if he loses San. And I wouldn’t let him anyway. I’m not letting anyone take me away from you,” Yunho said. 

“As much as I hate to break up this lovely moment,” Yeosang drawled, “you promised me a full cup of water and I gave half of it to Wooyoung. Plus, he’ll do much better under a blanket than under some body heat.”

Yunho glared at the prisoner. “Don’t get cocky because you got to help Wooyoungie. You’ll get your water when I feel like getting it,” he said. He held Wooyoung for a little longer before going to get him a blanket and refilling the cup of water. 

“Between your captain and San,” Yeosang said slowly, “I’ve been...divested. Any chance I could get at least a blanket? I’ll keep helping Wooyoung.”

Yunho was admittedly grateful for the help so he granted the prisoner’s request. It was only a small dirty rag of a blanket but at least it was something. He had to admit all the running around had made him exhausted so he sat down and moved Wooyoung into his lap to relax for a little while.

Yeosang tucked the blanket tightly around himself, finally able to cover himself up. The chains around his feet clanked as he settled back against the wall again. 

“I’ll make it up to you. As soon as you feel better, I will. But don’t worry, San won’t come near you ever again. I promise,” Yunho whispered. 

“Don’t,” Wooyoung whined, “don’t want that.”

Yunho frowned. “You should. San hurt you so bad, baby. He should be punished accordingly,” he said. 

“Don’t make it up to me,” Wooyoung mumbled, half delirious, “Don’t, please don’t.”

“Oh, don’t worry your pretty little head about that, Wooyoungie. I’ll handle everything and you just focus on getting back into tip top shape for me,” Yunho said. 

“No, no,” Wooyoung whined, struggling to get out of Yunho’s lap.

Yunho hushed Wooyoung and tightened his grip. “Relax, baby. You need to rest or you’re not going to feel better,” Yunho said, “I’ll stay until you fall asleep and then I’ll go get you some more food.”

Wooyoung didn’t like that. He didn’t want Yunho here, he didn’t want him at all. “Go away,” he sobbed. 

Yunho frowned. “I just rushed around this ship to get saline, bandages, food, and water for you. I cleaned you up and took care of you and you want me to go away?” he asked angrily, “no, that’s not how you’re going to repay me.”

Wooyoung whimpered. “I hate you,” he whispered. Yeosang sucked in a breath.

Yunho shoved Wooyoung off of his lap roughly. “I do  _ everything  _ for you. I keep you safe, I feed you, I’m the only reason you can stay on this boat and you  _ hate  _ me? You need to get your manners back. I’m sick of how the prisoner brainwashed you,” he said angrily. He grabbed Wooyoung by the arm and pulled him to his feet. 

Wooyoung whimpered and slumped as he was pulled up to his feet. He couldn’t even support his own weight. One hit and he’d be out like a light. 

Yunho scowled down at Wooyoung. “You should be kissing my feet for everything I do for you. Not acting like this,” he said as he slapped Wooyoung across the cheek. 

Wooyoung would have fallen to the floor if not for Yunho’s tight grip on his arm. His hand came up and cupped his burning cheek. 

“Let’s go,” Yunho said flatly. He pulled Wooyoung behind him trying to think of where was best to leave him. 

“No, no, please!” Wooyoung pleaded, “don’t make me!”

“You’ve lost your privileges,” Yunho snapped, “you should have thought before opening your big trap.” He led Wooyoung out of the brig and up to the deck. His room was much too comfortable and there weren’t many other places he could bring Wooyoung so he dragged him off to Seonghwa. “Hyung, I want to move him out of the brig but not somewhere comfortable,” he said. 

“Why?” Seonghwa asked suspiciously. Based on Wooyoung’s appearance, he was clearly barely in his own mind. 

“The prisoner is a bad influence on him. My Wooyoungie hasn’t been this much of a brat since we first got him. I don’t want him near the prisoner anymore,” Yunho explained. 

“How so?” Seonghwa said. He wasn’t going to give in on this until Yunho gave him the full story.

“I cleaned his cuts and bandaged him up. I even helped him eat and drink and at the end of it all he says he hates me!” Yunho said, “I don’t want him near that  _ filthy  _ prisoner who’s trying to brainwash him.”

“Yunho, look at him,” Seonghwa said, “the poor thing can’t even stand up straight. You really think he’s in his right mind when he says that?”

Yunho glanced at Wooyoung and pouted. “I hope not. There’s no way he could mean it, especially after everything I’ve done for him but I still don’t want him near the prisoner,” he grumbled. 

Seonghwa personally couldn’t think of a single reason why Wooyoung wouldn’t hate Yunho, but he didn’t want to provoke the other man. “It’s above me,” he said instead, “take it up with the captain.”

“Fucking useless,” Yunho muttered. He dragged Wooyoung back to his own room. There was no reason to go to the captain about this. He opened the door and dropped Wooyoung to the floor. “Don’t even think about laying in my bed,” he said. He slammed the door shut behind him and locked it. 

Wooyoung wouldn’t have had the energy to get into the bed even if he wanted to. He was terrified of what Yunho was going to do to him, but he couldn’t even move to protect himself. 

San had finally braved climbing down from the crow’s nest. No one had bothered him so he just got started on his daily chores. All of the sudden he was spun around and nailed in the cheek. The force of the punch sent him backwards onto the ground and he didn’t even have time to register who it was before he was being bombarded with more punches to his face. He tried to put his hands up to defend himself but it was useless against the barrage he was under. 

It took all of his energy and god only knows how many splinters, but Wooyoung managed to pull himself under Yunho’s bed. It was the safest place his fever-muddled brain could think of. 

San wasn’t sure how long it was until it was finally over. He rolled over and spit out the blood that had pooled in his mouth. “Don’t you ever think of laying a finger on Wooyoungie ever again.” That was the last thing San heard before he slipped into unconsciousness. 

Wooyoung could hear shouting outside and it terrified him. Any moment now, he was certain that Yunho would come bursting through that door, drag him out, and beat him to death. He didn’t want to die.

Yunho slammed his way back to his room, not caring who found San. When he couldn’t find Wooyoung, he panicked. “Wooyoung, where the fuck are you?” he bellowed. Finally, he caught sight of a foot under his bed. He grabbed onto it and dragged Wooyoung out. “Trying to hide from me?”

Wooyoung sobbed as he was pulled out from under the bed, nails dragging against the wood. “Please,” he sobbed, “please, don’t hurt me.”

“If you don’t want to be hurt, you shouldn’t pull stupid stunts!” Yunho yelled. He froze when he heard heavy footsteps outside his door. Hongjoong pushed open the door to the room and stood in the doorway. “There’s been a lot of noise aboard this ship today and I’ve heard it was you. You have a minute to explain why,” he said simply. 

Yeosang flinched every time he heard someone shout or something hit the deck above him. He hoped Wooyoung was okay.

Hongjoong only half paid attention to Yunho’s explanation, only grabbing onto the fact that the prisoner had medical knowledge. “Take care of Wooyoung and don’t go near San again,” he said. He found Seonghwa and instructed him to move San out of the sun on the deck to his room and then headed down to the brig. 

Yeosang jumped when the door scraped open and shrunk back against the wall when he saw the captain. The man hadn’t seemed all that formidable before, but after what had happened last time…

“A little birdie told me you were a medical officer. I’ve come to make you a deal. If you can properly fix my cheek and eye, I’ll let you move upstairs. If you can’t, well, you know what the punishment is if you make me angry,” Hongjoong said. 

“I can’t fix it, it’ll still scar,” Yeosang said, “and it’ll fix on its own anyway as long as you stop getting punched in the face.” Oh, why did he say that?

“And do I need to remind you of the reason my cheek is permanently deformed and I can no longer see out of my left eye?” Hongjoong growled, “seeing as you can’t fix it, I guess I need to make my trip down here worthwhile.” 

“I can stitch it,” Yeosang said hurriedly, “and your vision shouldn’t be affected by that except for the swelling. Let me take a look at it.”

Hongjoong smirked. He opened the cell door and walked over to the prisoner. “You will regret any attempts to hurt me,” he warned. He knelt down and untied the cloth from his face. 

Yeosang reached up and gently prodded at the captain’s cheek, trying to get a better look at his eye. “It’s so hard to see down here,” he muttered, squinting, “if I kinda push the swollen part down like this, can you see any better?”

Hongjoong did his best to hide a wince as the prisoner pushed a little too hard on a sensitive part of his cheek. “Not really,” he said honestly. 

Yeosang hummed. “I need us to switch places so I can have the light behind me,” he said.

“No. What do you think I’m stupid?” Hongjoong asked, pulling himself to his feet and grabbing the cloth. “I’ll just come back another time with a lantern.”

“I’m literally chained to the wall, where do you think I’m going to go?” Yeosang asked, “do you want me to fix your eye or not?”

“If you try and attack me, I’ll make sure you never see again,” Hongjoong threatened. He cautiously switched places with the prisoner and sat back down.

Yeosang wasn’t particularly gentle as he angled the captain’s head so he could see better. “Are you struggling to see in the other eye too?” he asked. 

“Be careful,” Hongjoong snarled. He didn’t like how comfortable the prisoner had gotten so quickly. “No,” he finally replied. 

“I’m going to touch your eyeball,” Yeosang warned, “do not blink.” He very lightly skimmed the pad of his finger over the captain’s eye. 

Hongjoong couldn’t feel a thing. He sat still and unblinking, watching the prisoner. Fleetingly, he wondered if anything was going to help.

Yeosang sighed and sat back, releasing the captain’s face. “The injury probably damaged a nerve,” he admitted with a sigh, “there’s no superficial damage and nothing I can do to fix it.”

Hongjoong’s lips pulled back in a snarl. “Here I was thinking you might actually be useful,” he spat, “what a fool I am.” He stood up again. He couldn’t even stand to look at the prisoner’s face. 

“I did all I know how to do,” Yeosang said, “it isn’t my fault that the medical knowledge doesn’t exist yet or that I’ll have no access to it when it does. You’re a pirate; wear an eyepatch.”

“I should have never been blinded!” Hongjoong yelled, “ _ you  _ did this to me and you have no right to make demands.” He kicked the prisoner as he walked past him. 

“You attacked us,” Yeosang said, gritting his teeth, “you knew the risks and I don’t pity you and your crew of child murderers one bit.”

Hongjoong didn’t know what the prisoner was talking about. He hadn’t seen a single child on the boat but he wasn’t about to argue. “I should have never broken my rule for you,” he muttered. 

“I wish you hadn’t,” Yeosang said, “but even now you’re hesitating to just toss me overboard. You’re weak,  _ captain _ .”

Hongjoong spun back around. “I am not weak!” he bellowed. He stalked back over to the prisoner and forced him to the ground on his stomach. “Do you need a reminder so soon?”

“A captain takes responsibility for his crew and their actions,” Yeosang gritted out, “he prohibits unnecessary cruelty but takes defensive measures when necessary and also enacts mercy. Even the most violent of pirate captains that I’ve met have adhered to these standards, but you  _ don’t.  _ You’re weak willed and have no control over your crew. Captain,  _ my ass _ .”

“Shut up!” Hongjoong demanded, “who the fuck are you to talk to me like this?” He ripped the blanket off from around the prisoner’s waist and pulled his hips up. 

Yeosang immediately kicked out, yanking himself away from the pirate’s hands. “So weak, the only way you can command respect is by forcing yourself on someone,” he taunted, hoping it would goad the captain into leaving him alone.

Hongjoong grunted when the prisoner kicked him. His chest heaved. Never in all his years had he ever had this many problems with a captive. He kicked the blanket across the room, out of reach. “I don’t want your respect. This is just the only way you’re useful to me,” he spat. 

“I’m literally trained in medicine,” Yeosang cried, “how is that not useful?”

“You can’t fix my eye, my cheek is already stitched, and San deserves to suffer with the injuries he has,” Hongjoong said nonchalantly, “I don’t particularly need you at the moment.”

“Yunho’s upstairs beating Wooyoung half to death,” Yeosang said, “and he’s already halfway there to begin with because he was attacked by San last night. Without Wooyoung, Yunho goes crazy, kills San, then probably himself, and suddenly you have no crew.”

“I lost more crew in the battle with your crew,” Hongjoong said, “and I can get more. You can check on Wooyoung when Yunho brings him back down here.”

“I don’t know how many men would be willing to work on a ship where there’s a mutiny every other night,” Yeosang said. 

“Oh my God, shut the fuck up,” Hongjoong said, starting to get annoyed. He walked in front of the prisoner. Since you don’t seem to like to listen very well…” He wasted no time grabbing the prisoner by the hair and yanking his head back. When his mouth fell open in surprise, Hongjoong shoved himself in. “I’m sorry, were you saying something?” he taunted. 

Yeosang gagged and tried to pull himself away. When that didn’t work, he tried shoving the captain back by his thighs. His last option was his teeth. 

Hongjoong braced himself so he didn’t fall over. With his free hand, he reached down and pinched the prisoner’s nose. “I’d hate to see you try anything too mouthy,” he said with a smirk.

Yeosang’s eyes widened in panic. He couldn’t breathe, not with his nose cut off and the pirate shoved halfway down his throat. He pounded on the man’s thigh, hoping he would get the memo. 

Hongjoong gritted his teeth. “Oh no, you haven’t learned your lesson yet. Hopefully this does the trick though,” he said. 

Tears gathered in Yeosang’s eyes, both from the suffocation and his inability to dissociate. He should have known that the captain would do this. 

Hongjoong finally grew bored, the power trip had run out, and pulled out. He shoved the prisoner to the floor before taking a step back and fixing his pants. “Anything else you’d like to say?” he asked. 

Yeosang coughed and clutched his throat before glaring up at the captain. “Fuck you,” he spat. 

Hongjoong chuckled. “Maybe next time,” he said casually. With that, he left the brig and went to check on his crew.

Seonghwa was relieved when the captain came back up on deck. “I don’t know what the hell Yunho is doing to that poor boy in there, but I’ve had enough of it,” he said firmly, “you need to do something before he kills someone.”

“Too scared to stop him yourself?” Hongjoong questioned with a smirk. He turned away from Seonghwa to walk into Yunho’s room. “I think that’s enough,” he said, holding up a hand when Yunho tried to protest. “Why don’t you go for a walk to cool down?” 

Wooyoung was on the floor in a pile, bloody, bruised, and barely conscious. Yunho was just one or two blows away from killing him and he wished Hongjoong had let him finish the job.

Yunho stormed out of the room, slamming the door open and leaving it. Hongjoong stooped to pick up Wooyoung and move him to the bed. “Seonghwa! Bring the prisoner up here,” he called. 

Yeosang jumped when the door opened again, but it was just the first mate. “Get up,” Seonghwa said, stopping to undo the chains and tossing the blanket to him. “Try anything funny and you’ll be spending the night in the captain’s quarters.”

Hongjoong stood to the side and waited for Seonghwa. His mouth was pressed into a line and he had crossed his arms. “You need to help him,” he said the moment the pair appeared, “prove to me that your medical training is useful and maybe I’ll get you some new clothes.”

“Fuckin’ hell,” Yeosang swore, ignoring the captain to move over and inspect Wooyoung’s injuries. “I’ll do what I can,” he said, “but I don’t think there’s even the proper supplies on this boat to patch him up fully.”

“We have whatever was in your shipments. If you know of any other boats carrying medical supplies, now might be a good time to tell us,” Hongjoong said. 

“I told you all before, my job was to check in inventory between ports,” Yeosang said, “and I had barely started when you attacked us. I know what I had requested for the infirmary, but I have no idea what we actually received. I know nothing about where we were going, what we were getting, or any other ships’ logs.” “Captain,” Mingi interrupted from the doorway, “there’s a port in sight. Are we docking?”

“Yes. Don’t let Yunho off this boat though and send Jongho up here,” Hongjoong turned back to the prisoner, “you have fifteen minutes to make a list of everything you need and you’ll give it to Jongho. I’ll be checking it before he gets off this ship.”

“Can the two of you carefully remove that sweater?” Yeosang asked as he took the paper and wooden pencil that the captain offered him. He made a list of everything he could think of to help Wooyoung and stock the ship in general. He made sure to include that Wooyoung needed new, clean clothes so that he didn’t get an infection from his own shirt. “I don’t know what’s in the hold still, but whatever’s there, I still need more,” he said. 

Hongjoong passed the list to Jongho and instructed him to buy the supplies listed on it. After the boy had run off, he had Seonghwa help him remove Wooyoung’s sweater. 

Yeosang looked at the bloody sweater disdainfully. “There’s no saving that,” he said before turning back to Wooyoung. “I need some warm water and probably two canisters of saline.”

“Oh, you’re done telling me what to do. Where the hell is San? Get him in here to help. I have more important things to be doing,” Hongjoong said. 

“I’ll help,” Seonghwa offered, “San’s still not doing great.”

“Still?” Hongjoong asked with a shake of his head, “I don’t even know if he’s worth keeping any more. Prisoner, I want you to train Seonghwa in everything you know.”

Yeosang made a face. “Believe me when I say he is not a quick learner for these things,” he said cryptically. 

Hongjoong looked between Seonghwa and the prisoner. “I don’t care how long it takes as long as he’s trained,” he snapped, “I’m going to check on San.”

Yeosang huffed and tied the blanket around his waist as tightly as he could. “I doubt he wants me wandering, but I do really need the saline and warm water,” he said to Seonghwa. 

Hongjoong slammed into San’s room, not even bothering to knock. “San! I need your help. Get up!” he shouted. The resulting groan was barely audible. Hongjoong stalked over to the bed and found San a lot worse off than he had expected. 

“I’ll be right back,” Seonghwa said, “and I’ll bring you pants, too.” Yeosang let a small smile slip, just barely showing his gratitude. “And some rags if you can,” he said, “I can’t even start until I clean his face up a bit.”

Hongjoong rubbed the bridge of his nose. He really didn’t have time for this. His first priority was making sure Jongho made it back safely and they got back on the open ocean as soon as possible. After that, he could worry about Yunho.

It took ten minutes before Seonghwa made it back. Yeosang dressed himself before dipping one of the rags in the water and starting to clean off Wooyoung’s face. The boy was barely conscious, his face swollen. Yeosang was shaking with anger as he took stock of his injuries.

Hongjoong found Yunho up on the deck, leaning on the railings and looking into town. “Yunho, get over here,” he barked. His crew member slowly turned around and walked over to him, head hung. “You need to tell me what’s  _ actually  _ going on because there are two people on this ship that are nearly dead because of you and I am not tolerating this any longer,” the captain snapped. 

Yeosang treated Seonghwa as more of an assistant than anything, having the first mate hand him whatever tools he needed. He had to stitch a number of split parts of Wooyoung’s face, as well as the cuts from San, bandage his rib cage tightly, and relocate his shoulder. “I need some pieces of smooth wood,” he said finally, “I need to splint his leg.”

Yunho kept his head down. “San was angry with you and he took it out on Wooyoungie. He deserves everything he got. A-And I already told you about how Wooyoung’s been acting,” he said. “You need to learn how to control your anger. What you do to Wooyoung is none of my business until it starts costing us money we don’t have because we need more medical supplies. However, what you do to my crew outside of my permission is very much my business. I need everyone in top shape because we’re currently down several crew members,” Hongjoong said angrily.

Yeosang wanted to cry. He didn’t understand how someone could do this to Wooyoung and still call it love. When Seonghwa returned, they worked together to splint Wooyoung’s leg. “If he doesn’t wake up in the next day or two, he’s good as gone,” Yeosang said quietly as he stepped back, “he needs his bandages changed frequently and regular thin food and water once he’s awake. Don’t let Yunho near him; it’ll only make him stressed and that will just make him more sick.” He held his wrists out listlessly, expecting Seonghwa to shackle him and drag him away. 

“Don’t you  _ dare  _ lay a hand on another crew member of mine. And you’ll be covering San’s work until he’s back up and running so I would get busy if I was you,” Hongjoong snapped. He waited for Yunho to walk away before heading back to where Wooyoung was. He needed Seonghwa to take the prisoner to check on San. 

Yeosang jumped when the door scraped open and the captain returned. “I’ve done as much as I can for now,” he said quietly, “I was just telling Seonghwa, light food and lots of water, clean bandages, and absolutely no Yunho. If he wakes up at all, that is.”

“Well, Yunho should have learned his lesson by now but Wooyoung not waking up certainly would put things into perspective,” Hongjoong said, “you can come check on him in the morning but for now Seonghwa is going to bring you to check on San. I need him ready to work as soon as possible.”

Yeosang nodded and trudged next to Seonghwa down the hall, clutching his canister of saline and his roll of bandages tightly. Hopefully, San was less injured. 

Hongjoong went back up on deck to wait for Jongho to get back. Meanwhile San cracked his eyes open when he heard the door creak open. He couldn’t tell who it was but it was probably Yunho coming to finish the job. 

Yeosang just sighed heavily when he saw San. At least he was awake and most of his injuries appeared to be on his face. It was mostly bruising, with a few cuts and a clearly broken nose. “Can you sit up?” he asked.

San’s eyes widened when he realized it was the prisoner. “What the fuck are you doing up here?” he asked angrily, although it didn’t sound very threatening. 

“I’m here to fix your face,” Yeosang said tiredly, “please sit up. You’re swallowing all your own blood and that’s terrible for your health.”

“I don’t want you to even think about touching me,” San growled weakly. He rolled over and spat the blood that had been pooling in his mouth onto the floor. 

“You think I want to be here helping you?” Yeosang retorted, “absolutely not, but it’s your captain’s orders and I’m literally defenseless if I don’t listen.”

“Tell him I refuse your help,” San said with a groan. He rolled back over and did his best to swallow a whimper before it could escape his lips.

“San,” Seonghwa growled, “you’re gonna let him help you or I’ll throw you off this boat myself.”

“I dare you to try,” San challenged, “we both know you wouldn’t anyway. But if it gets you out of my hair faster, you can come look.”

Yeosang was done with the game. He yanked San up and held his face tightly. “I’m going to stitch one cut and splint your nose, then we’ll leave you alone,” he said, tone leaving no room for argument. 

San cried out when he was suddenly pulled up. He weakly tried to shove the prisoner away. “You think I want you to stitch a cut with how rough you are?” he asked. His head was pounding and being shaken around was not helping at all. 

“I promise you, an infection will hurt much worse,” Yeosang said, “I wouldn’t be rough if you weren’t so stubborn. Let me work and it won’t hurt as much.” He held his hand out to Seonghwa for the needle and thread. 

San huffed. “Fine, just hurry up,” he grumbled. He didn’t like the prisoner helping him one bit but he didn’t have a choice. 

There wasn’t much Yeosang could do numb the area, so he just stitched it as quick as possible. After that, he ripped up some of the bandages and rolled them up to place on either side of San’s nose as a soft splint while Seonghwa wrapped his head with bandages to hold them in place. 

The moment the prisoner was done, San laid back down. He felt ridiculous but hopefully this would all help some of the pain. 

“Get yourself a drink for the pain if you need it, I don’t have anything else and I doubt your captain will get anything,” Yeosang said, “let me know if the stitches get weepy at all.”

San hummed and rolled over so his back was to the room. “If you see Yunho, tell him to do a better job next time,” he said. 

“Shut up and go have a whiskey or something,” Seonghwa ordered. He was done with all of this. “Let’s go,” he said, grabbing the prisoner by the upper arm and marching him out. 

San didn’t move. He didn’t even flinch when the door slammed shut. Instead he let his eyes fall closed and he finally gave in to sleep. 

Yeosang was surprised at Seonghwa handling him so roughly. The Seonghwa of five years ago would have never done such a thing. He was tossed back in the cell with a grunt and left to rot.

Hongjoong was relieved when Jongho finally came back. He gave the supplies to Mingi to sort and waited for Seonghwa to hear an update about San. 

Now that Yeosang was alone, he couldn’t stop himself from thinking about poor Wooyoung. He truly wasn’t sure that the poor boy would make the night in his condition. How could Yunho claim he loved him? It made Yeosang want to cry. 

When Seonghwa came about deck, Hongjoong approached him. “And? What’s the verdict? Will San be ready to go in the morning?” he asked. 

“Physically, sure? Will he willingly come out of his quarters with all the bandages on his face? Doubtful,” Seonghwa said, “it was pretty rough.”

“Hm, maybe this was the lesson he needed. Well we’re leaving first thing in the morning so I need him out here. Thank you for supervising the prisoner. You can go get some rest,” Hongjoong said. 

“He’s so familiar to me,” Seonghwa said, “and I cannot for the life of me figure out why.”

“Well, he was in the navy too, I’m sure that’s it,” Hongjoong said, “I wouldn’t worry too much about it. He doesn’t deserve your sympathy if you knew him.”

Seonghwa was quiet for a moment then he gasped. “He was the medical officer on my ship!” he said, “Kang Yeosang. I’m surprised I didn’t recognize him before. He was quite...prolific.” 

“Prolific? How so?” Hongjoong asked slowly. It was good to have a name, he could use it. But it wasn’t good that Seonghwa knew him. He didn’t need his first mate going easy on him.

“He was only in for five years but he nearly made admiral,” Seonghwa said, “would have been the first of the medical class to do so. Got injured and just never recovered. Honorable discharge. I didn’t even know he was back working on ships.”

“Injured how?” Hongjoong asked next. It would be much easier to keep his prisoner in place now that he knew more about him.

“The ship we were working on was lit up by pirates when we were docked,” Seonghwa said, “he went aboard to get his patients to safety and nearly didn’t make it out himself. I don’t know how you haven’t noticed the scarring; it’s all over his back and chest.”

“As if I would pay that much attention to a prisoner,” Hongjoong scoffed, “he’s going to be escorted to check on Wooyoung everyday. If I find you’re sneaking him things I didn’t approve or going easy on him, I will not allow you near him. Is that understood?”

“I barely knew him,” Seonghwa defended, “he severely outranked me and I was never good at medical. It’s not like I have any attachment to him.”

“Wonderful. I still want him to teach you. When you’re confident in the basics, we’ll dump him. I don’t want him getting too comfortable around us,” Hongjoong said. 

Seonghwa sighed. Of course that was Hongjoong’s plan. “Aye, Captain,” he said, “I’m turning in for a bit.”

Hongjoong nodded. “We head out at dawn,” he called after Seonghwa. After that he went to tell Yunho that he needed to sleep in a new room for a few nights. That conversation didn’t go well but Hongjoong had more important things to worry about. 

Yeosang didn’t last long before his emotions overtook him. He was scared and miserable and he felt so terribly for Wooyoung. He almost hoped the boy didn’t make it so he wouldn’t suffer at Yunho’s hand any longer. 

Yunho was pissed that he couldn’t see Wooyoung. Who were they to take him away from his lover and throw him in an unfamiliar room with none of his things? He could barely focus on his work with how infuriated he was. 

Wooyoung woke up alone and in pain. He knew he was in Yunho’s bed, in Yunho’s room, and he expected the man to come barging in at any moment. Oh, Yunho was going to be so angry at him. 

Every time Yunho would try to sneak into his room, he would be caught and sent back to work. Finally when everyone else went to sleep, he slipped into his room. 

Wooyoung was nearly asleep when his door creaked open. He was exhausted from dealing with Yeosang and Hongjoong breathing down his neck, so he pretended to be asleep. 

Yunho stalked over to the bed and stared down at Wooyoung, who seemed to be asleep. “You think it’s all fun and games to be a brat, huh? You used to be so quiet, Wooyoungie. I miss the quiet you. Hopefully I don’t have to do this again to get you to be nice and quiet,” he said softly. He moved around the room to get some of his things. 

Wooyoung cracked his eyes open the slightest bit to watch Yunho moving around. “I just don’t want you to hurt me anymore,” he said quietly, “I hate being scared of you.”

“You hate being scared of me yet you don’t listen. I don’t ask for much, Wooyoungie, I really don’t. I love you so much and I just hate that you don’t appreciate it,” Yunho said quietly. 

“You never would have laid a hand on me before,” Wooyoung said, “ _ never _ . Pirating changed you and I don’t know if I can love the Yunho that hurts me and treats me like a possession.”

“I never had to lay a hand on you. You’ve been so different and being around that prisoner is ruining you,” Yunho said. He still refused to look at Wooyoung, opting to finish gathering his stuff instead. 

“You took me from my home after I specifically told you I didn’t want to go to sea with you,” Wooyoung said, “I was perfectly content waiting for you on land. You turned rough and violent and you stopped treating me like a person. Of course I’m different, Yunho.”

“I couldn’t live that long without you. I have no idea how long I’m going to be on this ship and the thought of never seeing you again was agonizing. I  _ had  _ to take you with me,” Yunho defended. 

“And I could have forgiven that,” Wooyoung said, “the moment you first laid a hand on me was the moment you lost me.”

Yunho’s hand curled around the shirt he was holding before dropping everything. “You’re not staying up here,” he decided, “I don’t care what happens to you but I don’t want to see you until you’ve come to your senses.” He moved to the bed and grabbed Wooyoung by the arm. The younger boy could stay in a different room for all he cared. 

Wooyoung didn’t resist, although he was fairly certain he’d throw up if he had to be upright. “I wish I hated you,” he said quietly, “I wish it was that easy.”

Yunho froze. “And I wish you weren’t a stubborn brat but we can’t have what we want can we?” he snapped, “if it weren’t for me, you would have been off the side of this boat a long time ago but you don’t appreciate that. You don’t appreciate anything I do. I don’t even know why I still care about you at this point.”

“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be on this boat in the first place,” Wooyoung muttered, rubbing his temple with his free hand. His head hurt. 

Yunho threw Wooyoung’s arm away. “I don’t even want to look at you. I can’t believe I’ve given up so much for you,” he grumbled. He turned around and picked up his stuff again. He couldn’t stand to be around his lover, if he even dare to call him that anymore, right now. 

Wooyoung frowned. How had Yunho sacrificed anything? It was himself that was doing all the suffering here. 

Yunho slammed the door closed on his way out. He’d rather have to spend tomorrow working with San than go back to see Wooyoung. Ever since that damn prisoner had been brought on board, everything had fallen apart. 

Wooyoung flinched and carefully laid back down. He was so tired of doing this. 

Yunho found an empty room as far from his own room as possible. He threw his stuff on the floor and flopped down on the bed. All he wanted to do was get some sleep and forget all about Wooyoung.

Now that he was awake, Wooyoung couldn’t sleep. He carefully climbed out of bed, pulling his sweater close around him. Holding onto doors and walls, he slowly made his way out to the bow of the ship. It was dark and he could just barely see a head peeking out of the crow’s nest, but he didn’t care. He hadn’t breathed the clean ocean air in so long.

San had taken the bandage off of his nose not much longer after they had left. He didn’t need that stupid thing on his face, he didn’t care how much it hurt. And he couldn’t stay in his room anymore so he snuck out to his hiding spot. When he heard footsteps on the deck, he peeked over the edge and was surprised to see Wooyoung. The boy looked like he was about to fall over but he wasn’t ready to give himself away to help yet. 

Wooyoung leaned heavily against the bow once he reached it, staring out at the open dark water ahead. He had to admit, it was very peaceful like this. If Yunho hadn’t changed like he had, he may have even come to love sea life. 

San continued to watch Wooyoung curiously. When the younger boy didn’t move, he finally climbed down from his perch. “I’m probably obligated to tell you not to jump but I’ll just pretend I didn’t see anything,” he said when he got a little closer. 

Wooyoung flinched violently and almost collapsed to the deck. “You scared me,” he gasped. 

San chuckled to himself. “Good. It wouldn’t have been worth it otherwise,” he said, “you shouldn’t be out here though. You aren’t looking too...hot.”

“You don’t look all that great yourself,” Wooyoung said, “I can’t sit in that bed anymore. It’s so stuffy in there. I can’t even think of the last time I had the chance to breathe clean fresh air.”

San frowned. “Hey it’s just a couple bruises, I’ve looked worse,” he snapped, “don’t let me interrupt then.” He turned back around, wondering why he had even come down. 

“Did he do that to you?” Wooyoung asked before he could stop himself. He shook his head. “Why did you hurt me the other night? I didn’t do anything to you.”

San stopped walking but didn’t turn around again. “No you didn’t but he did. Going after him directly wouldn’t have hurt him that much. Although I do guess I owe him again now,” he mused. 

“Please don’t,” Wooyoung said, a little desperately, “he deserves a good knock in his own face for once.”

“Oh no, I wouldn’t go after you again. It seems like he did the job for me. And speaking of jobs, from what I hear, he’s doing mine just fine and it’s going to stay that way,” San said, “if you mention that you saw me and that I’m okay to work, I will have no hesitation of doing much worse to you than he did.”

“My lips are sealed,” Wooyoung said, “as long as yours are too.”

“Of course,” San said with a smirk Wooyoung couldn’t see, “I would never rat out a friend.”

Wooyoung narrowed his eyes. “We aren’t friends,” he said, “I’m not that stupid.”

San chuckled. “You’re so cute when you try and act tough. Goodnight, Wooyoungie. Enjoy the fresh air,” he said, finally starting to walk away. He had an idea on how to get Yunho back this time. 

Wooyoung sighed and slid down the wall to sit on the deck. He was tired now and didn’t think he could make it back to bed. 

San was just about to climb back into the crow’s nest when he saw Wooyoung sitting on the deck. “You’re going to ruin your secret on your own if you don’t get back to bed,” San taunted. He climbed the first step of the ladder and watched Wooyoung.

“Can’t get up,” Wooyoung said weakly, “can’t walk back.”

San over exaggerated a pout. “Sure is a shame you don’t have a friend out here to help you out,” he said, continuing to climb slowly.

Wooyoung sighed and closed his eyes. He didn’t even care anymore. 

San’s pout morphed into a frown. As long as Wooyoung didn’t rat him out if he got caught, it would be fine. He slowly climbed back up to the crow’s nest and laid on his back to watch the sky.

When Wooyoung opened his eyes next, it was to sunlight and commotion and the distinct sound of Yunho yelling. 

San jumped awake when he heard Yunho. Oh, this had to be good. He peered over the edge to watch his crew member stalk across the deck. When he passed by, San quietly made his way down the stairs.

Wooyoung shrunk back, hoping no one would see him. How the hell was he going to get inside now? 

San waited until Yunho had walked past where Wooyoung was before jumping in front of him. “Hey, who pissed in your cereal this morning?” he asked. Hopefully Wooyoung got the idea and got a move on.

Wooyoung couldn’t move, so he slowly tugged his sweater to cover his head and hoped no one looked too closely. 

“You motherfucker!” Yunho yelled, leaping towards San. San took a few steps back to dodge Yunho. “Oh it most definitely wasn’t me,” he replied, which only seemed to piss off his crewmate more. Why wasn’t Wooyoung moving while he had the chance?

Wooyoung started shaking. Yunho was going to kill him, if Hongjoong didn’t first. He should have never come outside. 

San quickly realized Wooyoung wasn’t going to move. “Don’t you have work to be doing?” he asked with crossed arms. “Not anymore if you’re here,” Yunho snapped. “Oh no no no. I’m going back to lay down,” San paused pretending to hear something, “it sounds like Cap’s calling for you. Better get a move on.” Yunho glanced over his shoulder and stalked off with a scowl. San waited a moment before rushing over to where Wooyoung was hiding. “Let’s go,” he said, grabbing Wooyoung by the arm. 

Wooyoung was shivering. “I can’t stand up,” he whispered, “I’m gonna collapse if I try.”

San glanced behind him. “Fuck,” he muttered under his breath before turning back to Wooyoung. He threw one of Wooyoung’s arms over his neck and wrapped one of his around the younger boy’s waist. “We gotta go,” he said, helping Wooyoung to his feet. 

Wooyoung leaned on San heavily, doing his best to move his feet and speed the process up. If they got caught, there would be hell to pay. He didn’t understand why San was even helping him.

San half carried, half dragged Wooyoung across the deck. He didn’t know if it would be worse if they got caught by the captain or the first mate. 

By some miracle, Wooyoung managed to make it back to Yunho’s room without getting caught. San even helped him get settled back in bed. “Thank you,” he said quietly. 

“Don’t mention it,” San said, “anything for a…shipmate I guess.” Once he was sure Wooyoung was okay, he turned around to leave. 

Wooyoung was so confused and overwhelmed. “Please don’t let Yunho know that I was out there or that you helped me or anything,” he requested quietly, “he’ll kill me for real.”

“Why shouldn’t I? What’s in it for me?” San asked. He paused with his hand on the doorknob. 

“I...w-whatever you want,” Wooyoung offered timidly, “as long as it doesn’t get me hurt. I don’t want to die.”

San smiled. “I don’t want anything...yet. We’ll consider this an IOU,” he said. With that, he snuck out of the room and back to his own. 

That scared Wooyoung, but he couldn’t take the offer back now. Hopefully, whatever San wanted wouldn’t be too horrible. 

San all but collapsed into bed. His head was spinning and he just wanted to sleep the day away and wake up feeling better. 

Yeosang heard all the commotion from where he was sitting in the brig. He’d finally acquired proper clothing and had even been given some real food, not just scraps. Granted, it was cold and stale, but it wasn’t potato skins, so he was happy. He was so distracted that he missed the footsteps coming down the stairs until the door swung open. 

Yunho stormed downstairs to find the prisoner in his cell. “You’re the reason everything’s going to shit!” he said angrily. He threw the cell door open and stepped inside. 

Yeosang wasn’t able to get up in time, so he scrambled backwards, trying to get as far away from Yunho as possible. He’d seen what this man was capable of. 

Yunho grabbed the prisoner and hauled him to his feet. “You ruined my Wooyoungie! You broke our captain’s rule! You’ve caused nothing but problems!” he cried, shoving the prisoner into the wall after each sentence. 

Yeosang let himself go limp enough to take the impact without getting majorly hurt every time. “I didn’t  _ choose  _ to do any of that,” he said. 

“I don’t  _ care _ . You lost me my anger release so now I get to take it all out on you,” Yunho growled, “I’m sure you're used to this anyway with how the captain is.”

Yeosang considered himself a well trained fighter, but he wasn’t sure that he could really hold his own against Yunho’s size and rage. When the hands started swinging, he did his best to block and counter, but it was useless. One solid hit to the side of his face sent him tumbling to the ground. 

Yunho pinned the prisoner’s arms above his head and climbed over him. “You really are so weak, it’s pathetic,” he spat, “you’re hardly a replacement but you’re all I have.” With one hand he began to undress the prisoner. 

Yeosang started thrashing as hard as he could. “Get off of me!” he yelled, hoping to attract any attention.

Yunho paused for a minute to pin the prisoner to the ground. “Stop moving or I’ll slam your head into the floor,” he growled. He finally started to reach for his own pants, not even hearing the door open. 

Yeosang sobbed. He hated this. Just one of them was more than enough. Why were they all dead set on terrorizing him?

Hongjoong had come down to talk to the prisoner and the last thing he expected to find was Yunho pinning him to the floor. “Yunho! Get off of him. You have someone upstairs for this,” he yelled. Yunho looked up fearfully and scrambled off of the prisoner, pulling his pants up in the process. 

As soon as the weight lifted off of him, Yeosang scrambled to pull up his pants and hide himself in the darkest corner of his cell, still sobbing. Of course it had to be the damn captain that came down. 

Hongjoong stalked over to the cell and grabbed Yunho by the collar, dragging him to the door. “Don’t let me ever catch you down here again. You’re on thin fucking ice, Yunho. One more stunt and I’ll have you off of my ship in a heartbeat,” he threatened. 

Yeosang was close to hyperventilating. That had been even more terrifying than the first time the captain had done it, because he knew exactly what Yunho could and would do if he didn’t cooperate. 

Hongjoong sent Yunho upstairs and walked back over to the stall. “What did he do to you? And don’t lie for him,” he asked. 

“N-Nothing,” Yeosang gasped, “but he was - he was going - going to -” He couldn’t get the words out. 

“I know. Don’t worry, he won’t be coming down here anymore. I just came to ask how Wooyoung and San are doing but you obviously need a minute to calm down,” Hongjoong said. 

“I don’t - don’t know,” Yeosang choked out, not wanting to take any sort of punishment for wasting the captain’s time. “I h-haven’t b-been up in - in a few d-days.”

“A few days? Seonghwa was supposed to be bringing you up. Come on. Let’s go now then,” Hongjoong said. He stepped into the stall to unchain the prisoner. 

Yeosang flinched back without thinking. He didn’t think he could even move right now, let alone climb the stairs and do his job. 

Hongjoong paused when the prisoner flinched away from him. “I’m not the one who just hurt you so I don’t know why you’re acting like this,” he said. He let the last chain fall to the floor and was actually grateful the prisoner wasn’t capable of running. 

“You h-have,” Yeosang stuttered, “worse than him.”

Hongjoong hummed. “And if it wasn’t for me, he would have hurt you too. Don’t make me regret stopping him,” he said quietly, “now up you get. You have a job to do.”

Yeosang took a shaky breath and slowly forced himself to his feet. The captain was right. He shouldn’t take any risks. 

Hongjoong grabbed onto the prisoner’s arm and brought him upstairs. He let go when they got to Wooyoung’s room and stepped back to hear the update. 

“You’ve been up and mobile,” Yeosang said, “you’re going to make it harder for your leg to heal.”

Hongjoong leaned against the door and crossed his arms. He watched silently, wanting to make sure the prisoner was actually useful.

“You have to stay off that leg,” Yeosang instructed as he checked all of Wooyoung’s stitches. “Everything else seems to healing well.”

Hongjoong watched the prisoner check over Wooyoung for another minute before speaking up. “If you’re feeling good enough to get up and walk around, I’m sure we can move you back downstairs,” he commented. 

“No, his wounds are still too wet,” Yeosang said, “he’s not past the infection risk yet.”

Hongjoong frowned. “And how much longer will that be?” he asked. He wanted everything back to normal as quickly as possible.

“A couple of days at least, maybe a week,” Yeosang said, “once they stop leaking and discharging so much, he should be okay. It’s really the one deep one on his stomach that was already infected before that I’m worried about.”

Hongjoong hummed. “Fine. I’ll have Seonghwa bring you back up tomorrow. I don’t need you to check on San so I’ll bring you back downstairs,” he said. 

Yeosang nodded quietly. He was still expecting the captain to snap. 

Hongjoong grabbed onto the prisoner’s arm and dragged him back downstairs. He was surprised with how easily the prisoner came with him. “So tell me, why are you so quiet huh? Finally gained some common sense? I doubt it. Did Yunho really scare you that bad? What a shame really, he’s nothing but a brainless brute. Tell me, Yeosang, what really did it?” he asked. 

“I just don’t want to get hurt anymore,” Yeosang said softly. 

“You learn faster than most,” Hongjoong commented, “I still want you to train Seonghwa. Don’t drag it out, I need him trained as soon as possible.”

“He’s really terrible at medical, but I’ll do my best,” Yeosang said with a sigh. He had tried this before and it hadn’t gone well. 

“Would you rather spend your time with San?” Hongjoong asked with a smirk. Now that he said it, it wasn’t a horrible idea. The boy was quite intelligent and picked things up fast when he wanted to. It might even be a better idea than training Seonghwa. 

“I would not,” Yeosang said stiffly. He had no desire to ever be near San again. 

“Oh, I know you wouldn’t but he’s a much better student than Seonghwa and I can afford to lose him from the deck. I think that’s what we’ll do. I’ll send him down tomorrow and you can teach him everything you know. The faster you teach him, the faster you can get away from him,” Hongjoong said. 

Yeosang just sighed again. It wasn’t like he could say no. He was supposed to be fully retired by now, not teaching pirates how to fix themselves without dying. 

Hongjoong took one last look at the prisoner before taking his leave. It was nice that he had learned to just follow orders so quickly, it made his life so much better. Next, he needed to find Seonghwa to figure out where they stood. 

Yeosang collapsed to the floor once the captain was gone. He wanted to go home. 

“Seonghwa!” Hongjoong called when he made his way back up to the deck, “I need to talk to you.”

Seonghwa grabbed a rag to wipe his hands of grease and stepped away from the rigging he was oiling. “Yes, Captain?” he asked. 

“Seeing as I need you up here, I’ve decided to have the prisoner train San. It’ll give him something to do and keep him out of everyone’s hair. And if they kill each other so be it,” Hongjoong said, “but we need to start looking for some new crew. And some more lumber.”

“We’re low on food stores as well,” Seonghwa said, “we need to take the next merchant ship we see. Jongho’s repairs aren’t going to hold much longer.”

Hongjoong sighed. He hated switching ships but it was always necessary at certain points. “I’ll have Wooyoung and the prisoner help us move supplies,” he said, “the next merchant ship that looks big enough for us, we’re taking.”

“I’m not sure Wooyoung’s really able yet,” Seonghwa said, “but I know San’s been in and out of the crow’s nest so he’s definitely able.”

Hongjoong sighed. “One of these days we should take the ladder down while he’s up there and see what he does. It’d at least give us some entertainment,” he said. 

“He’d slide down it,” Seonghwa said immediately, “the fun part would be listening to him pick the splinters out of his asshole.”

Hongjoong snickered. “Whatever gets us some entertainment. You can tell him it was my idea. We can watch him get angry and take it out on someone else,” he said. 

“I hope for Wooyoung’s sake it’s not Yunho,” Seonghwa said, shaking his head. 

“I’m honestly surprised neither of them have killed the other yet. It’s only a matter of time I guess,” Hongjoong said with a shrug, “I almost miss the days they were good friends. Almost.”

“Don’t need to be friends to work together,” Seonghwa said quietly, “I just hope they’ll still have each other’s backs in battle.”

“They’d better. Their allegiance is to this ship no matter who they hate,” Hongjoong growled, “and they know that.”

“You might want to reinforce the concept,” Seonghwa said, “things have been getting out of hand lately.”

“I know,” Hongjoong said with a sigh, “I almost want to dump Wooyoung and Yunho at the next port but I can’t do that ‘til we get new crew.”

“Wooyoung isn’t even a problem,” Seonghwa said, “Yunho’s the violent one.”

“Yunho’s been fine until recently and there’s no reason to keep Wooyoung if Yunho’s not here. He’s practically useless, especially now,” Hongjoong said. 

“You’re the one that allowed Yunho to bring Wooyoung aboard,” Seonghwa reminded Hongjoong.

“Yes and that’s fine but if Yunho goes, so does he. He’s already used up enough of our medical supplies as it is,” Hongjoong said. 

Seonghwa sighed. Obviously, he wasn’t going to get through to Hongjoong. “What about Yeosang?” he asked tentatively. 

“Well San’s a fast learner so depending on when he’s trained in the basics of medicine versus when we find a new ship we may not even need to take him with us. I don’t anticipate keeping him any longer than another month,” Hongjoong said, “and no more prisoners. This has been too much of a hassle.”

“So you’re just going to leave him to die?” Seonghwa asked skeptically. 

Hongjoong shrugged. “Probably. If he stays quiet I might still consider keeping him as a plaything but we’ll see. He’s not really as docile as I’d prefer though,” he said. 

“God forbid he’s a human being,” Seonghwa muttered. He was glad Yeosang’s spirit hadn’t been broken yet. 

Hongjoong frowned. “Seonghwa, you care too much about people. Why do you still do this? You don’t agree with half of my decisions yet you stay. Why? Why not go back to your life and leave me to run my ship how I want to?” he asked. 

“This ship would fall apart without me and you know it,” Seonghwa said, “I care about this crew; that’s why I’m still here. I’m sorry that watching you treat my former superior officer as an object to be abused makes me uncomfortable.”

Hongjoong forced himself not to roll his eyes. “He’s a prisoner, Seonghwa. No matter if you knew him or not, he is nothing more than that. I know it’s hard to separate but with a little more practice you’ll get there. But for now, worry about the crew and let me worry about my personal decisions on my own.”

“He’s still a person,” Seonghwa said quietly, “imagine if you were in his place.”

Hongjoong had to laugh at that. “Oh please, I don’t have time for games like this. He’s a prisoner who as of right now is nothing more than a teacher for San. Speaking of, I need to tell him,” he said. 

Seonghwa sighed and just shook his head. He didn’t understand what satisfaction Hongjoong got out of doing what he did, or how he had grown up to be this way. 

Hongjoong patted Seonghwa on the shoulder. “One of these days you’ll understand,” he said soothingly, “I’m going to talk to San. We’ll see how this goes.” 

Seonghwa shook his head again and returned to his rigging. He hoped he never understood. 

Hongjoong sauntered across the deck and stood under the crow’s nest. “San, I have a new assignment for you,” he called. No answer. “San, I will leave you up there to fend off seagulls again if you don’t come down.” Brown hair suddenly popped over the edge and slowly but surely San made his way down to the deck. His face, especially around his nose was still bruised but he looked much better. “You’re going to be trained by the prisoner so that we don’t have to rely on him for medical knowledge anymore,” the captain explained. 

While the captain and San were distracted, Mingi took the opportunity to slip down to the brig. He wanted to talk to the prisoner about the boy, hopefully finally put his mind to rest. 

“No, absolutely not. I’d rather you throw me overboard right now,” San said. He walked over to the starboard side and climbed up on the edge to prove his point. “I can’t stop you if you jump but this is non negotiable. Seonghwa is useless to me and the faster you do this the sooner we’ll be able to dump the prisoner,” Hongjoong said calmly. San’s eyes lit up at that.

Yeosang looked up when the door scraped open and a pirate he’d never seen entered the brig. He slowly and cautiously slid away from the cell door, but the man just sat on the floor outside of it. “There was a child on your ship,” the pirate started, voice low. 

“Can I kill him?” San asked. “If you prove to me you actually learned something,” Hongjoong bargained. San turned around and made a show of jumping back down to the deck. “I’ll do it,” he agreed. “You say that like you had a choice,” the captain pointed out. San’s smirk slipped into a scowl. 

“Yes,” Yeosang said calmly, “he was the captain’s son, twelve years old. His name was Dongju.” The pirate’s face only seemed to get paler. “And I used to be angry that this crew would bat no eyes to killing a child, but I’ve realized that being dead is much better than being orphaned and enslaved,” he continued.

“You start first thing tomorrow but more importantly than that, I need you to tell me what’s going on with Yunho. I can’t keep having you two kill each other every week. I need everyone in top shape until we recover some crew members. So I’m giving you one chance to tell me everything,” Hongjoong said. San’s hands curled into fists. “It’s your fault,” he spat. 

“I’m sorry,” Mingi said quietly, voice shaking. “Did he suffer?” Yeosang asked. The pirate shook his head. “Then all is forgiven.”

“My fault?” Hongjoong asked with raised eyebrows. He half paid attention as San rambled on about how Yunho should have never turned on him, letting the boy run out of steam before speaking again. “I don’t know where this came from but it better be the last I hear about it. This also will be the last time I talk to you about going after Yunho  _ or _ Wooyoung again. You shouldn’t ever be in the same room as Wooyoung let alone attack him. And you and Yunho are crewmates. I don’t care if you hate each other now but you need to work together for the sake of this ship or I will tie you to the top mast and leave you there,” Hongjoong said, tone deadly. 

Mingi couldn’t help it. He let out a sob. He had felt so guilty, especially after hearing how the prisoner had called both San and the captain child murderers. To be forgiven felt undeserved. 

San glared at the captain. “Listen you can plan a mutiny all you want. If you and Yunho continue to fight, there will be hell to pay for both of you. I don’t care what it takes, just sort your shit out. And soon please. I really don’t have time for childish games,” Hongjoong said tiredly. 

Yeosang watched in shock as the pirate started crying. That was...unexpected. “He’s suffering less now because of you,” he offered. 

San kept his mouth closed and just continued to glare. Hongjoong sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Just do your job and we won’t have any more problems, okay?” the captain said, “now get back to work. I don’t need you slacking off anymore.” Next on his list was to find Yunho. Hopefully this conversation went just as smoothly. 

Eventually, Mingi calmed down and sat sniffling on the brig floor. “I’d offer you a handkerchief but I don’t have one,” Yeosang said. “I’m sorry to his family,” the pirate said quietly, but Yeosang shook his head. “Ain’t no one left to miss him but me,” he said. 

Hongjoong found Yunho in a spare bedroom trying to reorganize his things. “What are you doing?” he asked. Yunho jumped and turned around. “Just...getting comfortable,” he replied. Hongjoong chuckled and shook his head. “Go back to Wooyoungie,” he said. Yunho opened his mouth to protest but Hongjoong cut him off. “He’s doing better and if you promise to go easy on him and not take your anger at San out on him, you can stay with him in your room,” he said. Yunho nodded eagerly. “Pack up then,” Hongjoong said with a wave of his hand, “you  _ cannot  _ do something like this again. To him or San. We don’t have the medical supplies to handle it and I’d hate to have to sell you to cover the costs.”

After the pirate calmed down and went back abovedecks, Yeosang relaxed. He hadn’t expected him to be so remorseful. 

Hongjoong sent Yunho back to his room with the same warning he gave San. Hopefully the two would figure something out and the fighting would stop. Meanwhile, Yunho pushed open the door slowly and started putting everything back where it belonged. It felt like he hadn’t seen Wooyoung in ages and he really missed the younger boy. 

Wooyoung was still asleep in bed when the door creaked open, waking him up. It felt like deja vu as he sleepily watched Yunho put his things away. He didn’t say anything this time though, not wanting to spark another argument. 

Yunho silently put everything back where it belonged. When he was done, he climbed into bed and wrapped himself around Wooyoung. “I missed you so much,” he whispered. 

Wooyoung still didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what to say. Yunho had really nearly killed him this time. 

“I won’t ever let them take me away from you for that long again,” Yunho said matter of factly, “and I won’t let San hurt you again either.” 

Wooyoung sighed heavily. There would be no getting away from Yunho again. 

Yunho pouted when Wooyoung just sighed. “What’s wrong, baby? Still not feeling good? I’ll help you feel better in no time,” he said quietly. He pulled his lover back against his chest and held him tightly. 

Wooyoung grunted. “You’re holding me too tight,” he finally said, “that hurts.” Yunho’s gigantic hand was digging right into his largest cut. 

Yunho loosened his grip a little but kept Wooyoung close. “Just relax, Wooyoungie. You’ll feel better in no time,” he said. 

Wooyoung sighed and pulled the blanket up to cover his face. He’d really rather not. 

Now that everything had quieted down, Hongjoong decided to pay the prisoner a visit. He headed down to the brig and opened the cell but didn’t go in yet. “It’s nice not having to worry about you trying to fight back anymore,” he commented. 

“One of your crew just came down here,” Yeosang said quietly, “he apologized for killing my captain’s son.” He wasn’t sure why he was telling the captain this. 

Hongjoong frowned. The only one with enough heart to do that was Mingi. He would have to talk to him about going to see the prisoner without his permission. “Don’t get used to it,” he said, “don’t get used to seeing anyone other than San and Wooyoung either. Well and of course me. I have to have some fun with you while you’re still here.”

Yeosang didn’t like the sound of that one bit. Between the captain and San, there was no way he was getting out of this safely. 

“You don’t get to see San until tomorrow and I’d hate for you to be bored until then,” Hongjoong said with a smirk. He walked into the cell and grabbed the prisoner by the chin. He turned his head both ways, inspecting the scars. “You’re still pretty even after San got a piece of you. How lucky,” he mused. 

Yeosang didn’t fight to pull his face away. It wasn’t worth the punishment. Maybe the captain would just have a look and leave without doing anything. 

Hongjoong moved the prisoner’s face back so that he could look him in the eyes. “I’ve really considered throwing you away but that would be such a waste, huh? Especially when you’d make such a fine trophy. I’d be the envy across the seven seas. You’re pretty, you’re a good fuck, and now you even know how to listen,” he said gleefully. 

Yeosang has to bite his cheek to keep from saying something he would regret. He was just hoping that the captain’s fun wouldn’t turn physical.

Hongjoong tilted his head. “My own little pet. Oh, how I’ve missed this,” he paused to lean forward and kiss the prisoner roughly, “don’t want you to forget who you belong to now.” 

Yeosang froze when the captain kissed him. Up until then, this had been fairly impersonal. Kissing was something he never expected the pirate to even consider doing. 

“If you and San start conniving any little plans together, I will find out. And I will not be very happy. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you what happens when you piss me off?” Hongjoong asked, eyes roaming the prisoner’s face. 

“No,” Yeosang said quietly, “I understand.”

“Excellent!” Hongjoong said happily, finally releasing the prisoner’s chin, “I’ll be back down to check on you eventually. If you teach San quickly and continue to listen this well, I’ll consider moving you up to my room.”

Yeosang breathed a sigh of relief. The captain wasn’t going to do anything. This time, at least. 

Hongjoong walked back up to the deck and stopped for a moment. He surveyed the scene around him, watching each crew member work for a moment. Everything was finally back the way it should be. Hopefully it stayed that way even after they changed ships. 

Wooyoung waited until he was sure Yunho was asleep to slip away. He slowly made his way out onto the deck, but stayed closer to the quarters this time so he wouldn’t get stranded. It was still light out, so there was still activity, but he needed some air. 

San heard footsteps outside his door and decided to investigate. Peering between a small hole in his door, he found the source of the footsteps to be Wooyoung. Swiftly he opened the door and yanked the boy inside, covering his mouth so he wouldn’t make a noise. 

Wooyoung tried to scream when he was suddenly yanked into a room, but there was a hand covering his mouth. He ripped himself away and whirled around to see San. “What the fuck?” he shrieked. 

“Shut up, you’re gonna get us caught and ruin the fun,” San hissed, “I just wanted to see what you would do.” He took a step back and hid his laugh behind his hand. 

“You scared the shit out of me, I thought you were Yunho,” Wooyoung said with a pout. San was so mean. 

San mimicked Wooyoung’s pout. “You’re really so scared of that oaf. You can do so much better than him. Even just on this ship! There’s Mingi and Seonghwa, although he’s got a stick up his ass sometimes, hell even me,” he said. 

“He’d kill me,” Wooyoung said seriously, “you know he would in a heartbeat.”

“Or whoever else you picked would kill him,” San said, “think about it. If you go with someone else, even if you don’t actually like them. They’d kill him and you’d never have to worry about it again. Most of them would probably just let you live your life after that.”

“I can’t do that to him,” Wooyoung said softly. “I can’t get somebody killed, that’s not right.”

“After everything he’s done to you? After he almost killed you? You’ll have scars forever because of him. Wouldn’t your life be so much easier if he was gone?” San said gently.

“It would, but I don’t want his death on my conscience,” Wooyoung said, “I loved him once. I would never forgive myself if I got him killed without giving him the chance to be better again.”

“Well you’re not getting away from him while he’s alive,” San said, crossing his arms, “and we both know he’s not getting better. He’s a ticking time bomb.”

“He might still,” Wooyoung said defensively, “my Yunho is in there somewhere, I know he is.”

San rolled his eyes. “ _ Your  _ Yunho is gone, Wooyoung. And you’re as good as dead if you don’t give it up,” he said, “you really need to move on.”

“I can bring him back,” Wooyoung said confidently, “I know I can. He’ll do anything for me.”

“You’re going to get hurt again!” San cried, “he’s going to kill you and the rest of us are going to be stuck with him with no buffer. I learned to accept that my best friend is gone and now it’s your turn.”

“I can’t,” Wooyoung said, “it’s the only thing keeping me from pitching myself off the side of this ship.”

San rolled his eyes. “I was willing to help you. But you’re just so fucking stubborn. When everything goes to shit and no one on this boat will save you, don’t come crying to me,” he said. He stepped to the side and opened the door. “Actually. Do come crying. I want to tell you I told you so.”

“I just don’t want to lose him,” Wooyoung said quietly, “I’d rather pretend he’s still here and still mine than acknowledge that I’ve lost him.”

San raised his eyebrows. “And they say I’m the crazy one on this ship,” he said with a roll of his eyes, “good luck getting through his thick skull. I’ll remember you at your funeral.”

Wooyoung huffed and stormed past San as best as he could. He was winded by the time he made it back down the hallway to Yunho’s room. 

San closed the door and locked it. It was only a matter of time before Wooyoung got himself killed and there was nothing he could do but sit back and wait. 

Wooyoung was glad that Yunho didn’t appear to be awake. Carefully, he slipped back into bed. 

Yunho roused slightly when he felt Wooyoung move in his arms. He tightened his grip and pulled his lover against his chest. 

Wooyoung grunted as he was pulled backwards. There was no way he was getting away again. 

Within the next few days, there were able to take another merchant ship. Hongjoong kept to his rule this time: no prisoners. They could recruit more crew when they got to the next port. As they were starting to move supplies, Hongjoong took a trip to the brig for the last time. “Get up, Yeosang! We’re going on a little field trip,” he said excitedly. 

Yeosang was wary of that. The captain’s field trips were never fun for him. He stood up cautiously, not wanting his anger. 

“We’re moving to a new ship! A merchant ship at that so you should feel much more at home. And I think it’s time you’ve moved out of the brig. Come on. I’ll show you where you’ll be staying from now on,” Hongjoong said. He grabbed Yeosang’s arm and brought him to the new ship. 

Yeosang really considered tossing both himself and the captain overboard as they crossed the boards to the new ship, but he didn’t make up his mind quickly enough. He didn’t appreciate the way the pirate was dragging him. 

Hongjoong led Yeosang to his own room. The prisoner had been very quiet recently and he wanted to truly see if keeping him as a plaything was worth it. “Much better than the brig isn’t it? Although I don’t mind putting you back if you get too comfortable,” he said. 

Yeosang fully understood the implications of being moved to the captain’s personal quarters. It might as well be a collar on his neck. Even still, a bed was a bed.

Hongjoong elbowed Yeosang in the side. “Hey, I’m talking to you. It’d be in your best interest not to ignore me,” he snapped. 

“I’m not ignoring you,” Yeosang said softly, “I just assumed the question was rhetorical. Everything you ask me always is.”

“Well I think I need to have some actual conversations with you to figure out if keeping you here is going to work,” Hongjoong said, “you are not to leave and you are not to touch anything.”

“So business as usual then,” Yeosang said listlessly, “gonna make me sleep on the floor too?”

Hongjoong smacked Yeosang. “If you keep up with your wisecracks, I will,” he grumbled, “I’m going to have Jongho bring you some new clothes. Do  _ not  _ get into that bed until you have them.”

“Can I bathe?” Yeosang asked, eyeing the tub in the corner of the room. “New clothes won’t do anything if I’m still disgusting.”

“Sure,” Hongjoong said with a shrug, “just don’t leave a mess and don’t use up too much soap.”

“I’ll have to leave the room to get bathwater,” Yeosang clarified, just to make sure he wouldn’t face trouble for it later. 

“You won’t be getting bath water. Have Jongho help you with that when he brings your clothes. I’ll send him in soon,” Hongjoong said. He finally released Yesoang’s arm.

Yeosang shook his sleeve out when the captain finally released his grip. He rubbed his arm, knowing it was going to bruise. 

Hongjoong scoffed and rolled his eyes. “I have my crew to attend to. I’ll be back later tonight, don’t miss me too much,” he said. He grabbed Yeosang’s chin and held him still so he could kiss the prisoner. “I think I could get used to these goodbye kisses,” he commented before taking his leave. 

As soon as the captain was gone, Yeosang wiped his mouth and spit on the floor. The pirate was so  _ slimy _ , in more ways than one.

Hongjoong gave orders to Jongho to bring Yeosang some fresh clothes and heat some bath water for him. Jongho rushed off to do what he was told, staying quiet and keeping his head down as he filled the tub. He wasn’t scared of the prisoner but he was certainly scared of what Hongjoong would do to him if he found out they talked. 

Yeosang watched in amusement as the young pirate scurried around his room. He hadn’t met this one before. “Jongho, right?” he asked. 

Jongho just nodded. The captain must have told the prisoner his name. 

“How’d you get stuck with this band of crazies?” Yeosang asked, “you seem like a normal kid.”

“They’re not crazy. Well San is a little but,” Jongho shook his head, “it doesn’t matter. Captain noticed me on the streets begging for money and he promised me he would give me clothes and food if I came to work for him. And all the years I’ve been here, he never once went back on his promise”

“Ya ever killed anyone for him?” Yeosang asked, crossing his arms.

Jongho shifted nervously. “We all have,” he said quietly, “it’s part of the job.” He dumped the last bucket of water into the tub and left the clothes on the bed. 

“Doesn’t have to be,” Yeosang said, “no one else listens to him. Why do you?”

“He gave me a better life. And he’s kept his promise so I’m keeping mine. I don’t know why you care so much. It’s not like it’s my fault he did this to you,” Jongho said, tone a bit harsher than he meant.

“You’re the only one I haven’t met yet,” Yeosang said with a shrug, “life is very boring as a prisoner.”

“I bet it is but that’s not really my problem,” Jongho said with a shrug. He paused just as he was about to leave the room. “Do you hate all of us or just him?”

“Him,” Yeosang said, “and Yunho and San and Seonghwa. You I don’t know and the other one I’ve forgiven. Wooyoung is a victim.”

Jongho frowned. “Even Seonghwa hyung?” he asked quietly, turning around to look at the prisoner. Seonghwa had treated him the best out of all of the crew, he couldn’t figure out how the prisoner could hate him.

“Seonghwa and I had a relationship prior to this situation,” Yeosang said, “and I will not forgive him for allowing me to be treated like this when he’s likely the only one that could ever convince your captain otherwise.”

Jongho’s eyes widened. “You...you knew him? How?” he asked curiously. 

“We were in the Navy together,” Yeosang said, “I severely outranked him and he was the worst medical student I ever had. He was still in when I was discharged, so I had no idea he had ever turned to pirating. It doesn’t seem to suit him.”

“Whoa,” Jongho mumbled to himself. “Seonghwa hyung likes doing this! Or at least he likes it enough to stay. He’s the only one Captain wouldn’t get mad at for leaving.”

“And that’s probably because the pirating life and Park Seonghwa simply don’t go together,” Yeosang said. “How’d he end up doing this anyway?”

Jongho shrugged. “I don’t really know. He was here before I joined. I think Captain connived him into joining by lying about the job and by the time Seonghwa hyung figured it out, it was too late. I don’t know why he stayed though. The only one that came after me was Mingi,” he said. 

Yeosang just hummed. “And the captain,” he said, “what can you tell me about him?”

Jongho chewed on his lip. “Not a lot. The rumor that San told me was that he was born on a ship and took over when his dad died but I don’t know if it’s true,” he said with a shrug. 

“If that’s true, then he’s got one hell of an immune system,” Yeosang mused. 

“I don’t really believe it but I’m not gonna ask. Good luck trying to find out. I don’t think he’s even told Seonghwa hyung the truth,” Jongho said. 

Yeosang hummed then stood up. “I’m sorry, that bathwater’s probably getting cold now,” he said, “you can go, thank you.”

Jongho frowned. “Just ‘cause Captain moved you up here doesn’t mean you aren’t a prisoner anymore,” he said flatly. He didn’t wait for a response before leaving.

Yeosang undressed and bathed quickly before dressing in the clothes Jongho had brought them. They were quite a bit thinner than what he was used to and he felt exposed. 

Once the crew had moved everything, Hongjoong found himself sitting on the deck watching their old ship burn. They had been on that ship for the last five years but it was definitely time for a change. “Well boys. Time to find some new crew,” he announced. 

Yeosang wandered around slowly, inspecting everything that the old captain had left behind. If he could sneak some jewelry and escape while they were docked, he might get away with it. 

Hongjoong sat on the deck until the top mast disappeared below the ocean’s surface. Hopefully now he could enjoy Yeosang a little before they had to figure out where to dock next. 

Yeosang managed to find some rings that he knew would sell for a good amount and hid them in a knothole in the wall. He covered the hole just as the door opened. 

Hongjoong stretched and closed the door behind him. He stopped and tilted his head as he watched Yeosang. “Enjoying the new room?” he asked, “Jongho really spoiled you with the clothes he brought up.”

“Just exploring,” Yeosang said, “the former captain clearly embezzled a lot.”

Hongjoong hummed. “This isn’t quite how I planned on finding treasure but it works for me,” he said. He shamelessly let his eyes roam over Yeosang. “You clean up nice. I wasn’t expecting it.”

Yeosang made a face. He didn’t need the captain telling him how pretty or ugly he was. 

Hongjoong rolled his eyes. “I would be careful who you make faces at,” he commented. He walked across the room and started looking through the old captain’s clothes. Once he found something he liked, he stripped down and got changed. 

Yeosang turned away when the captain suddenly started stripping down. He didn’t want to see any of that. 

When Hongjoong turned around he surveyed Yeosang again. “I don’t want you in my bed ‘til all of your injuries stop bleeding,” he said. 

“I don’t think any of my injuries are bleeding,” Yeosang said doubtfully, glancing down at his arms. 

Hongjoong sighed. “I don’t want to risk it tonight,” he said. He collapsed onto the bed and groaned quietly. 

“Where the hell am I supposed to sleep then?” Yeosang asked, “I know you didn’t just give me clean clothes and let me bathe just for me to sleep on the grimy ass floor and get it all dirty again.”

Hongjoong didn’t bother sitting up again. “Do you want to sleep in bed with me?” he asked, slightly amused. 

“Yes,” Yeosang said shamelessly, “I’ve been sleeping on the floor for weeks. I’d share a bed with anyone at this point.”

“And why should I let you sleep with me?” Hongjoong asked, “what’s in it for me?”

“I won’t be able to murder you in your sleep,” Yeosang said darkly.

Hongjoong scoffed. “As if you could kill me,” he mused, “if you suck me off, you can stay up here. If not, get comfortable on the floor.”

Yeosang made a face. “Fuck you,” he muttered, “that’s not happening.”

“Well then have fun on the floor,” Hongjoong said, finally moving to get comfortable, “those are my conditions if you want to sleep up here.”

Fortunately for Yeosang, the old captain had kept a chair and a small table in his quarters. Unfortunately, they were solid oak and incredibly uncomfortable. With a sigh, he curled up on the chair, laying his head on his knees. 

“You’re more stubborn than Seonghwa,” Hongjoong commented, “no matter, you’ll come around eventually.”

“I will never come willingly to you,” Yeosang muttered, not even bothering to open his eyes.

“Oh you say that now. One day you’ll actually enjoy everything. But I’m not worried about that. We’ll get there when we get there,” Hongjoong said. 

“You’re vile,” Yeosang all but spat, “I hope to see you suffer like this someday.”

“Oh Yeosangie, Yeosangie, how innocent of you. The day that happens is the day my crew tortures you until your sanity is long gone,” Hongjoong promised. 

“Oh, I don’t want to be the one doing it,” Yeosang, “I don’t want my dick anywhere near someone so disgusting. No, I just want to watch you suffer.”

Hongjoong chuckled. “Don’t hold your breath,” he said, rolling over and grabbing a pillow.

Yeosang grumbled but didn’t say anything else. With luck, it would happen the next time they docked. 

When Yunho blinked his eyes open, he saw the sunlight through the crack beneath the door. He wasn’t ready to get up yet so he pulled Wooyoung closer and hid his face in his lover’s neck. 

Wooyoung woke up when a searing pain tore through his side. He groaned and tugged at Yunho’s arm. “You’re hurting me,” he mumbled.

Yunho huffed. “You’re not gonna be able to use that forever,” he said but he loosened his grip anyway.

Wooyoung slipped his hand under Yunho’s to prod gently at the injury. “I think you made it bleed again,” he huffed. 

“You’ll be fine,” Yunho assured. He held Wooyoung’s hand through his shirt. He couldn’t even think of the last time they had held hands. 

Wooyoung slowly extracted his hand from under Yunho’s. He wasn’t ready for that kind of intimacy anymore. 

Yunho took a deep breath when Wooyoung pulled his hand away. Wooyoung used to be so loving but he’s become so withdrawn. Maybe it was really time to move on and start looking for something else. “I’m not doing this anymore,” he said, letting go and pushing himself to stand, “at the next port, I want you gone.”

Wooyoung didn’t even react. It wasn’t the first time Yunho had threatened to drop him at a port and leave. He had no idea what had triggered this mood swing, but he knew it would be over before the day was. 

Yunho left the room to get started on his daily chores. He ignored the rest of the crew, opting to work in silence and dwell on his frustrations.

Wooyoung painstakingly got up and pulled up his shirt. Sure enough, he was bleeding. With a sigh, he made his way to the captain’s room. 

Hongjoong’s eyes flew open when he heard the door creak. He sat up and had to turn to see who it was. “What do you need at this hour, Wooyoung?” he asked. 

“I need Yeosang,” Wooyoung said quietly, “I’m bleeding again from the big one.”

Hongjoong huffed and laid back down, waving Wooyoung away. “Yeosangie! Wooyoung needs you,” he said loudly.

Yeosang flinched awake when he heard his name and squinted to see Wooyoung through the darkness. He sighed. “I don’t know where the supplies got put,” he said. 

“Wooyoung, go tell Mingi to bring the supplies here,” Hongjoong ordered. He wasn’t feeling well and had no desire to move from his bed. 

Wooyoung went off to find the tall pirate, who followed him back to the captain’s quarters with a trunk of medical supplies. Yeosang slipped out of his chair, motioning for Wooyoung to sit down. 

Hongjoong draped his arm over his eyes, simply listening to Yeosang and Wooyoung. He didn’t care what they talked about as long as they weren’t too loud. 

Yeosang lit a candle so he could see what he was doing and carefully went about restitching the portion that had ripped. “He isn’t being rough with you again, is he?” he asked. Wooyoung shook his head. “He’s just possessive with a tight grip,” he replied. 

Hongjoong began to doze off before Yeosang was even finished. A quiet morning like this was nice. And even though he couldn’t go on the deck he knew Seonghwa would keep the crew in line. It would be nice to have a line of communication with his first mate but he wasn’t going to let Yeosang out of the room. Wooyoung on the other hand…

Yeosang finished the stitching and wiped down the wound. “Let me wrap you up so they won’t rip if he does that again,” he said quietly, rummaging for bandages in the chest of supplies. He started wrapping Wooyoung’s torso with the bandages. 

“Wooyoung, how would you like a job?” Hongjoong asked. If he could have a gopher for the next couple of days, it would keep the boy away from Yunho and meant he could stay in bed. 

Wooyoung looked up at the captain. “I don’t know how to sail,” he said uncertainly, “I don’t think I could be much help.”

“Oh, it’s nothing like that,” Hongjoong said with a wave of his hand, “I need you to be a runner for me. Most importantly would be to pass messages to Seonghwa and vice versa.”

“Oh, I guess I can do that,” Wooyoung said. Yeosang finished wrapping him up and pulled his shirt back down. 

“Wonderful. You can start today. I want no one else in and out other than you. If anyone asks you why you’re doing this, it’s because I want you to,” Hongjoong said, “you’ll still be staying with Yunho at night.”

Wooyoung nodded and hurried off as quickly as he could. He didn’t need to catch trouble from the captain as well.

Hongjoong smiled to himself when he heard the door open and close. “He’s a nice little friend for you to have,” he commented. 

“We’re friends by circumstance,” Yeosang said as he settled back in his chair, “I know nothing about him.”

“Well I’m sure you’ll be learning a lot more now that he’ll be spending some more time in here. If I can ever trust you, I might let you go to his room,” Hongjoong said. 

“I’d really rather not,” Yeosang said, “getting beat by one of you is bad enough.”

Hongjoong would have laughed if he was feeling better. “Oh please. Wooyoung couldn’t hurt a fly if he wanted to. It’s Yunho that you have to be worried about,” he said. 

“Exactly,” Yeosang deadpanned, “Wooyoung lives with Yunho, or did you forget the instructions you gave him literally five minutes ago?”

Hongjoong took a deep breath so he didn’t snap. “I didn’t forget anything but you seem to have forgotten who you’re talking to,” he said calmly. 

Yeosang just rolled his eyes and laid his head on his knees. He was tired of this. 

Hongjoong was grateful for the quiet. He let his eyes fall closed again and was happy to just rest.He didn’t let himself fall asleep though, lest Yeosang get any ideas to go wandering.

It wasn’t long before Yeosang managed to fall asleep upright in the chair. He was so exhausted that he could probably sleep anywhere. 

Hongjoong didn’t like how cold the bed was. He was able to sleep but it wasn’t comfortable. Maybe he should have Yeosang come sleep with him at night. 

Yeosang jerked awake a few times as he almost fell off the chair. He would give anything to be able to sleep in the bed, but there was no way he’d admit that to the captain. 

Hongjoong jumped when Yeosang made a noise catching himself on the chair. “Oh my God, just get over here. You’re giving me a headache with all the banging,” he said. 

“I’m okay,” Yeosang mumbled quietly, “I just lose my balance on larger waves.”

“You’re keeping me awake and this bed is freezing just get over here,” Hongjoong said, starting to lose his patience.

Yeosang couldn’t resist anymore. A warm, soft bed was better than a floor or an old chair, no matter who he had to share it with. 

Hongjoong smiled when he heard Yeosang get up. He cracked an eye open and watched the younger man climb into the bed. 

Yeosang laid down on the bed as far from the captain as he could without falling off. He groaned as he settled into the mattress. 

“This bed is freezing. Get over here or I’ll make you sleep on the deck,” Hongjoong said. He was not in the mood for this. 

Yeosang was not happy with that idea, but he obeyed, rolling himself over until he was closer to the captain. He stayed on top of the covers, facing away. 

Hongjoong rolled onto his side and gathered Yeosang into his arms. “Isn’t it nice to be held?” he purred in the prisoner’s ear.

Yeosang’s entire body seized up and he drove an elbow back without thinking. He didn’t like that one bit. 

Hongjoong grunted when Yeosang elbowed him in the stomach. His hand came to wrap around the prisoner’s neck. “I would be careful where you put your elbows,” he growled. 

An odd, unbidden whimper escaped Yeosang’s throat. He couldn’t just tell the captain that he didn’t want to be touched; that wouldn’t go over well at all.

“That’s what I thought,” Hongjoong said flatly. He let go of Yeosang’s throat and wrapped his arm around his waist. 

“My ears and neck are really sensitive,” Yeosang mumbled a couple minutes later, “I didn’t mean to elbow you, I promise.”

Hongjoong hummed. “Don’t let it happen again,” he said simply.

Yeosang wasn’t exactly sure how he was supposed to control an involuntary reaction, but he wasn’t going to argue. He just wanted to sleep. 

Hongjoong pressed against Yeosang’s back. The prisoner was quite bony but at least he helped against some of the cold. “You need to start eating more. You’re not comfortable to lean against,” he grumbled.

“Can’t eat if you don’t feed me,” Yeosang mumbled, trying to get comfortable with the captain clinging to him. 

“I’ll have Jongho start bringing you three meals a day. We need to get some meat on your bones or you won’t make it through winter,” Hongjoong said.

“Good,” Yeosang mumbled to himself. That would be less torture for him. Idly, he wondered what the captain would do if he refused to eat.

Hongjoong huffed. He really hoped the prisoner stayed quiet while he stayed up here. He didn’t want to move him somewhere else again. 

Yeosang never ended up falling asleep. He couldn’t with the captain pressed to his back.

When Hongjoong woke up he felt even worse but he was going to do everything in his power to make sure the prisoner was none the wiser. He finally let go and sat up, making sure to keep Yeosang in his field of vision. 

Yeosang rolled onto his front and buried his face in a pillow when the captain finally let him go. He was exhausted and nearing the point of tears. 

Yeosang didn’t seem like he was going anywhere so Hongjoong decided a walk around the deck wouldn’t hurt. He left the room to get some fresh air. 

It wasn’t until the captain actually left the room that Yeosang’s body relaxed and he was able to actually get to sleep. How he wished things were different. 

Hongjoong walked the deck slowly, marveling at how his crew was working together. He wasn’t surprised Yunho and San were at opposite ends of the ship but at least they weren’t ripping each other’s throats out. 

Once Yeosang was down, it seemed like he was down for good. He didn’t even wake up when a large wave had the boat pitching hard starboard. 

A storm was rapidly approaching and Hongjoong had had his fair share of these. Just as he finished helping to secure the main sails the skies opened and it started to pour. He did not want to be stuck in the rain any longer than necessary so he finished securing the last rope and disappeared back to his room. His crew could handle the rest. 

Yeosang woke up to a loud crack of thunder and scrambled upright, startled and disoriented. He only got more spooked when the door suddenly slammed behind him. 

Hongjoong pushed his soaking hair out of his face and had to laugh when he saw Yeosang standing in the middle of the room looking terrified. “What’s wrong? Scared of a little thunder?” he goaded. 

Yeosang scowled. “It woke me up and I thought it was cannonfire at first,” he said petulantly, “I got excited.”

Hongjoong rolled his eyes. “The next time it’s cannonfire, I’ll tie you to the main mast so you can have a front row seat,” he grumbled. After the past couple of days and how he was feeling, he really wasn’t in the mood for Yeosang’s bullshit. He pulled off his wet shirt and stretched his shoulders.

Yeosang just slumped back down in the bed. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with the captain at all. 

Hongjoong found a piece of leather and used it to tie his wet hair back. He kicked off his soaked trousers next and left them in a pile in the corner of the room. Turning back towards the bed he watched Yeosang closely for a moment. “You do remember the price for sleeping in my bed I hope,” he said. 

“I didn’t ask,” Yeosang reminded him, “you asked me. You can’t charge for your own request.”

“I had you move because you were keeping me awake and giving me a headache,” Hongjoong said, “that doesn’t mean I plan on getting nothing in return for letting you sleep with me.”

“I’m fairly certain the noise was coming from the ship and not from me,” Yeosang said, “go fuck a knothole if you really need to get your rocks off that bad.”

Hongjoong narrowed his eyes. “ _ You  _ don’t get to talk to me like that. And it seems like you need a reminder of why I even kept you to begin with,” he snarled. 

“You’ve threatened me how many times in the last few days and done nothing,” Yeosang said, “I said before that you’re weak and I stand by it.”

Hongjoong’s patience snapped. He stalked across the room and pushed Yeosang back onto the bed. “I do  _ not  _ have to deal with this shit from you. Since you like to run your mouth let’s see how brave you are after this,” he growled. He held Yeosang down with one hand and ripped his clothes off with the other.

God, why couldn’t Yeosang ever make himself shut up? He fought against the captain, trying to get away. 

Hongjoong eventually used both hands to hold Yeosang down. Using all of his weight as leverage, he pinned the prisoner to the bed. “Nothing to say, Yeosangie?” he spat. He waited until the prisoner had tired and finished pulling his clothes off. 

“You’re pathetic,” Yeosang spat out through gritted teeth. 

Hongjoong laughed in Yeosang’s face. “Oh, you’re going to have to do better than that,” he said. He pushed the prisoner’s arms above his head and pinned them there with one hand. With the other he stroked himself a few times and lined up, not giving Yeosang anytime to think, he pushed in. 

Yeosang didn’t want to give the captain any satisfaction, so he suppressed the cry of pain in his throat. It hurt, but he was able to ignore it now. 

“Go ahead. Tell me I’m weak. Tell me I’m pathetic. Tell me you’re not scared of me,” Hongjoong said angrily as he pounded into Yeosang, “go ahead and run your mouth like you love to do.”

“You’re despicable,” Yeosang finally spat, trying to fight the captain off again, “no wonder you do this. No one would ever  _ choose  _ to fuck you.”

Hongjoong didn’t register slapping Yeosang’s face until he felt the sting in his palm. He tried to ignore Yeosang’s words like he did every other thing that came out of his mouth but he couldn’t this time. The prisoner had struck a chord. “You act like such a hotshot but look at you! You’re at a disadvantage and never once have you been able to get yourself out of something like this. You act like you know everything, but you couldn’t be more wrong. You’re nothing more than a toy and you’ll never be more than this ever again!” he shouted, pounding into Yeosang. 

Yeosang was stunned when the captain actually slapped him. Clearly, he had struck a chord, so he decided to keep going. “You’re hideous and horrible,” he spat, “no one’s gonna touch you with a ten foot pole, so you have to force them instead.”

Hongjoong knew what Yeosang was doing but he was too angry to ignore it. The comments about him rolled off of his back like water. He had heard those all before. But the rest of them… He shook his head. “You wouldn’t know what someone wanting to fuck you looked like even if it slapped you in the ass! You’re a naive, good for nothing bitch I should have killed a long time ago,” he snapped. He could feel himself shaking and as he crawled closer and closer to his breaking point, he continued to pound roughly into Yeosang. He wanted to prisoner to not be able to walk the next few days.

Yeosang bit his lips, holding back pained whines and whimpers. The captain was really angry with him this time. “You want to fuck me,” he said finally.

Hongjoong was too angry to laugh. He was going to have to start gagging Yeosang whenever they did something like this. “No, no, you’re mistaken again. I want to make you suffer, make you regret ever opening your mouth. I want you to learn you’re not a high ranking medical official in the Navy anymore. And it just so happens to get me off. You’re just a prisoner who will be stuck on this ship until I grow sick of you, and that doesn’t seem to have gotten through your thick skull,” he snapped.

The captain’s thrusting only seemed to get more frantic and Yeosang’s control finally broke. He cried out in pain and it was only when his brain finally managed to shove the pain aside that he realized that there was something warm and sticky streaked across his abdomen. 

Hongjoong reveled in the cries of pain falling from Yeosang’s mouth. He came not much longer after not bothering to pull out. His chest heaved and he stared down at the prisoner below him. His mouth twisted into a nasty smirk when he saw the prisoner’s stomach painted with cum that was not his own. “‘You lying slut! You just like it a little rougher than most, huh? Just want someone to yell in your ear and fuck you a little harder? No wonder you’re such a brat,” he said gleefully. 

“No!” Yeosang gasped, “no, no, no!” He couldn’t even fathom what had just happened. His own body had betrayed him. 

“You’ve just been asking for it. And you finally found someone who can fuck you good enough to get off. When’s the last time that happened? You’re just another dirty slut who likes being talked down to. You’re not better than the rest of them,” Hongjoong spat. His ego had swelled and he could almost forget about the prisoner’s earlier comments. 

Yeosang sobbed and shook his head, weakly trying to push the captain off of him. He didn’t want it, he didn’t!

Hongjoong laughed at Yeosang’s weak attempt to push him off. “I wonder what else you’re into, you little slut! And now we have so much time together to figure it out,” he snarked. He finally pulled out, not caring about being gentle.

Yeosang sobbed harder and rolled to the side, curling in on himself. How could he have done that? He hadn’t enjoyed any of it!

Hongjoong stood up from the bed and went to find some clean pants. “I want these sheets cleaned by the time I get back. If they’re not I’d be more than happy to go for round two and see what other things get you off that you claim not to want,” he said flatly. 

Yeosang didn’t even acknowledge the captain. He was too shellshocked by what had just happened. 

Hongjoong grabbed a clean shirt and left to go wander the soaked deck. He tried to shake off Yeosang’s comments but one kept replaying itself over and over in his mind. He started frantically searching through the barrels trying to find something that contained alcohol. He wanted to forget everything that had happened.

Yeosang sobbed openly once the captain left. He knew in his mind that it wasn’t his fault, that bodies just did that, but his heart wouldn’t rationalize it. He had never wanted to die more than this.

Hongjoong found a tankard lying on the deck and grabbed it. He shook the rain water out and blindly stalked around until he found a barrel. He broke a hole in the bottom and caught the liquor that flowed out in his tankard. He downed it in one go and filled it again before sinking to the deck floor. The prisoner’s words were still swirling around his head. He wasn’t going to let Yeosang get to him like this, he wasn’t. 

When Yeosang finally regained control of himself, he used the captain’s dirty clothes to clean himself off. He dressed again, since his own clothes were mostly clean, and limped around the room. He didn’t have a way to get water, but he at least stripped and replaced the sheets, dropping the dirty ones in the tub for cleaning later. He didn’t want to take any risks this time. When he was done, he hid himself in a dark corner of the room and started crying again.

Hongjoong drank until his vision swam and his head was fuzzy. The only thing that sent him was further down the rabbit hole. The more he drank the more upset he got, and the more angry at Yeosang he got. Hongjoong hadn’t thought about… no he wasn’t going to do this tonight. Yeosang was going to pay for the comments he made. He pushed himself to his feet, threw the tankard to the ground, and stumbled across the deck in the general direction of his room. He wasn’t even sure if it was the right one when he threw open the door. 

Yeosang flinched harshly when the door was thrown open and accidentally hit his head against the wall. He groaned in pain, not even realizing yet that the captain was drunk and murderous. 

It took Hongjoong a minute to find where Yeosang was. He could barely see and he wasn’t walking much better. “This is your fault!” he slurred as he stumbled across the room, “you need to learn to keep your fucking mouth closed!”

Yeosang shrunk back with a sob, unable to stand up. “I’m sorry,” he whimpered, not even knowing what he had done, “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s too late for your fucking sorry! I don’t want to think about him and you had to go and open your fucking mouth! Now look at me!” Hongjoong cried, not even registering the words that were spilling out of his mouth. He didn’t notice the tears that were spilling down his cheeks either. He reached down to grab Yeosang but he lost his balance and tumbled to the ground. 

Yeosang grunted when the captain fell on top of him, pinning him to the wall. He was going to die tonight, he just knew it. The captain was going to murder him. 

Hongjoong pushed himself up enough so that he could punch Yeosang in the jaw. “I don’t want you to ever speak to me again!” he screamed. He didn’t care that he didn’t sound as threatening as he wanted to. 

Yeosang just laid there and took the beating. He knew no one on this boat would come save him, and he had no way to escape anyway.

Hongjoong eventually decided he didn’t want to be anywhere near Yeosang. He struggled to push himself to his feet and somehow finally ended up on his feet. “I don’t want to see your fucking face when I wake up,” he spat. He stumbled over to the bed and collapsed onto it.

Yeosang coughed and tried to push himself up, spitting blood onto the floor below him. His arms gave out and he fell to the ground, passed out cold. 

Hongjoong passed out not long after. When he woke up the following morning, he had no recollection of what happened the night before. That coupled with his pounding headache at least told him that he had been drunk.

Yeosang came to a few times throughout the night, but never long enough to be able to move and clean himself up. Instead, he stayed slumped in the corner of the room, floating in and out of consciousness. 

Hongjoong saw Yeosang in the corner of the room, slumped over and bleeding. He had to have done this but why? He sat back for a minute trying to remember it, anything, but he was coming up empty. He carefully climbed out of bed and walked over to Yeosang. The prisoner was roughed up much more than he realized. 

Yeosang groaned and forced an eye open when the light changed and he realized the captain was standing above him. “’m sorry,” he croaked out, “for wha’ever I said.”

Hongjoong knelt down next to Yeosang. He turned his head so he could survey all of the prisoners injuries. “For what you said?” he asked quietly. He thought back to the previous night and sucked in a breath when he remembered. But he still didn’t remember much after that. “W-What did I say to you?” he asked, trying to hide how scared he felt. What did he tell the prisoner? 

“Not much,” Yeosang slurred, “jus’ tha’ you didn’ wanna think ‘bout him and tha’ you wan’ed me gone.” He started tearing up again, so afraid that the pirate would kill him this time. “‘m sorry, couldn’ leave.”

Hongjoong’s breathing picked up and he stumbled back. Yeosang knew. Yeosang knew the one thing no one in his crew knew. He didn’t know what to think. He took a hard seat on the floor and just stared at Yeosang. Hongjoong had really fucked up. 

“Didn’ say who,” Yeosang added as he struggled to sit up and right himself. His head was pounding and his vision was swimming. 

Hongjoong relaxed a little. “You are not to say anything. Not even to Wooyoung,” he said as firmly as he could manage. He took a deep breath and pulled himself to his feet. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.” Now that Yeosang knew, he had to be careful. 

Yeosang shook his head. “‘m bleeding,” he mumbled, “sheets are clean.”

“It’s fine, just get in bed,” Hongjoong said. He hauled the prisoner up by the arm and brought him over to the bed. “I’m going to get San. If you say  _ anything  _ to him, I will rough you up worse than you are now,” he threatened before leaving the room. 

Yeosang didn’t want San. If anything, he just wanted to lay here until the swelling in his brain killed him. That would be the best solution for both of them. 

Hongjoong found the tankard again before he found San. He sent the boy to his room with explicit instructions to help Yeosang and ignore Seonghwa if he called for him. 

Yeosang stayed quiet as San came in and took a look at his injuries. He could tell the man to do nothing, but he knew he wouldn’t listen and that he’d probably get in trouble. For the first time since he’d ended up here, he felt truly hopeless. 

The first thing San did was get some water and a cloth to clean off Yeosang’s swollen face. “Jesus he did a number on you. The hell did you do to deserve this?” he asked. 

“Ran m’ mouth too much,” Yeosang mumbled. He didn’t want to get into it with San right now.

San whistled lowly. “Can’t believe he let you get away with it for this long,” he commented, “you’re lucky he didn’t kill you.” Yeosang’s eyes kept fluttering closed and San was starting to get nervous. “Hey, don’t fall asleep. Captain’ll kill me if you die on my watch.”

“S’okay,” Yeosang mumbled tiredly, “wha’ he wan’s anyway.” He was sure the captain would be much more satisfied if he were to die like this, scared, lonely, and in pain. That would be his ideal ending really. 

“Listen as long as I’m here, just stay awake and you can do whatever you want. As much as I’d love to watch you die, I don’t want to lose my own life for you,” San said. He took care of the rest of Yeosang’s injuries as best as he could. 

Yeosang wanted to cry. Never in his life had he felt so alone before. There was truly not a single soul that cared if he lived or died.

There wasn’t much San could do for the swelling or the lump on the back of Yeosang’s head where he was obviously slammed into the wall. “I guess I’ll leave you alone now,” he said, standing up. 

Yeosang made a grunted sound of acknowledgement and let his eyes close again. With luck, sleep would claim him soon.

San snuck out of the room just as Yeosang closed his eyes. He wasn’t going to be responsible for this mess. And he certainly wasn’t going to talk to Hongjoong about this. It was much more fun to have a front row seat to the shit show. 

Wooyoung had been belowdecks with Seonghwa, helping the first mate with inventory. When the older man asked him to go see when Hongjoong would be back in charge, he happily took the chance to escape. He hadn’t been much help at inventory anyway, since he couldn’t read or write. He knocked on the captain’s door then entered without waiting for an answer. He screamed when he saw Yeosang inside, bloody and bruised. He turned on his heel and all but sprinted back to Seonghwa. 

Yunho panicked when he heard a scream. It was Wooyoung, he could recognize that scream anywhere. He took off across the ship trying to find his lover. 

“Hyung!” Wooyoung cried as he flew over to Seonghwa, “Yeosang’s hurt real bad and I couldn’t find the captain at all; something’s wrong!” “I’ll go find the captain,” Seonghwa said, “you calm yourself down then ask Jongho to drop some hot water in the captain’s quarters.”

Yunho finally found Wooyoung looking completely distraught. “What happened? What’s going on? Who hurt you? Was it San? I’ll kill him!” Yunho said, rushing over to the younger boy. 

“No, no,” Wooyoung said, shaking his head. He was nearly hyperventilating as Seonghwa ran off, leaving him alone with Yunho. “The captain beat the shit out of Yeosang and he looks really bad. I’m scared.”

“Relax, baby, the prisoner’s gonna be fine. And if he’s not, Seonghwa will handle the captain,” Yunho said. He walked across the room and pulled Wooyoung against himself. 

“He has a  _ name, _ ” Wooyoung said, pushing Yunho off of him, “he’s a person and he might die! Doesn’t that bother you?”

“He’s not my concern so I’m not really that worried about him,” Yunho said honestly, “but you are and I’m worried about you right now.”

“Yeosang is the only person on this entire ship that gives a single damn about me and my wellbeing,” Wooyoung said heatedly, “if he dies, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Yunho frowned. “Right, I forgot I don’t care. Silly me! What am I even doing here? Go have fun with your friend while you can still enjoy him,” he spat. 

“Need I remind you that you very nearly killed me?” Wooyoung snapped, “and that if it wasn’t for Yeosang, I  _ would  _ have died.”

“You wouldn’t have died,” Yunho said calmly, “you needed that lesson and so did he. You picked up a lot of bad habits from him and I’m just glad the captain finally got sick of it.”

Wooyoung pushed past Yunho and started up the stairs. “Come find me when you grow some empathy,” he called over his shoulder. 

“Don’t come back to my room until you’re done being a brat!” Yunho called back. He wasn’t sure why he had even bothered trying to talk to Wooyoung. He kept giving the boy more and more chances and Wooyoung just kept blowing them to bits. 

Seonghwa all but sprinted up the stairs and onto the deck, looking around for Hongjoong. It wasn’t like the captain to snap like this; that was more Yunho or San’s speed. 

Hongjoong found himself sitting on the bow, half empty tankard in hand, staring out into the open ocean. The fresh air was calming and between that and the liquor, he could almost forget what had happened. He was still angry with Yeosang, but he didn’t think the prisoner would slip up again like this. 

“Captain!” Seonghwa called when he finally spotted Hongjoong, hurrying over to the bow. “What the hell happened?”

Hongjoong sighed when he heard a voice behind him. He didn’t even register who it was until they got closer. “None of your concern,” he said quietly. He hadn’t thought San would go running off to Seonghwa but somehow the first mate had still found out.

“There’s a man dying in your bed, according to Wooyoung,” Seonghwa said, “and you’re here, drunk, about to fall off the ship. I’d say that’s my concern.”

“I’m not gonna fall,” Hongjoong assured with a wave of his arm, “and the prisoner isn’t gonna die.” He turned around to face Seonghwa and nearly tipped over in the process. 

Seonghwa leaped forward and grabbed Hongjoong’s arm tightly. “Joong,” he said softly, “what happened?”

“Let go of me!” Hongjoong screamed. He tried to pull his arm out of Seonghwa’s grasp but it was too tight. His nails dug into the wood below him to help keep himself upright. “The prisoner finally learned his lesson. And you will too if you don’t back off,” he threatened. 

“Hongjoong,” Seonghwa said patiently, “c’mon, let’s get you some water and we can talk.” He hadn’t seen the captain this messed up in a while. 

Hongjoong finally managed to get his arm free and shoved Seonghwa away from him. “I have nothing to say to you,” he sneered, “go back to doing your job before I get someone to replace you.” 

“You know I’m not going to do that,” Seonghwa said stubbornly, “I’m your first mate for a reason.”

Hongjoong sighed and hopped down onto the deck, spilling some of the liquor in the process. “I just told you what happened. There’s nothing more to talk about,” he said. He stood up straight and did his best to walk across the deck without tripping or falling over.

“If it was just him mouthing off, you wouldn’t have broken your sobriety,” Seonghwa said quietly, “we’re supposed to be a team, Hongjoong.”

Hongjoong stumbled to a stop in the middle of the deck. “Don’t...don’t guilt trip me right now,” he said angrily, “it’s his fault this happened. Give him the lecture, not me.” His legs were about to give out on him and he knew if he moved he would fall over. 

“Is it his fault?” Seonghwa asked, “or did he say something that he didn’t even know would upset you?” 

Hongjoong felt the anger bubbling back up in his chest. “It’s his fault!” he insisted. He ignored the small part of his brain urging him not to do anything irrational and spun around as he shouted it. Unsurprisingly, this sent him crashing to the deck and caused the tankard to fly out of his hands and land a few feet away. 

Seonghwa ignored the tankard and hurried to help Hongjoong to his feet. “What did he say?” he asked.

Hongjoong leaned heavily on Seonghwa, trying to steady himself. “That little slut had the audacity to say no one would choose to fuck me but he has no idea. He doesn’t know anything! He just likes to run his mouth and now he finally,  _ finally,  _ learned that doesn’t fly,” he screamed. He hadn’t wanted Seonghwa to find out, he hadn’t. He had kept everything so quiet for all these years and of course the one prisoner he had broken his rule for went and ruined that.

Seonghwa knew there must have been a deeper reason behind Hongjoong being so upset. A comment like that would have normally rolled right off his back, but something about the prisoner really got to him. “I think you need to sober up and spend a few days away from him,” he said, “I’ll find a different room for him to stay in, okay?”

Hongjoong pushed himself away from Seonghwa and stumbled over to the tankard. “Leave him to rot. And don’t say anything to the crew,” he ordered. He stooped down to get the tankard and painstakingly pushed himself back up onto his feet. 

Seonghwa easily took the tankard from Hongjoong and cast it as far away from them as he could. He wrapped an arm around the captain’s waist and guided him toward the galley. “You need water,” he said sternly. 

Hongjoong tried to walk on his own but he couldn’t pull away from Seonghwa’s grasp. “I’m fine,” he grumbled, “you need to make sure Yunho and San aren’t tearing each other apart. Have Jongho move the prisoner so I can have my room back.”

“Yunho and San are nowhere near each other,” Seonghwa said, “you are going to sit here and drink water and if you don’t, I’ll throw you off this boat.”

Hongjoong pushed himself away from Seonghwa and took a hard seat on the bench. “I don’t need a babysitter,” he growled. 

“Then stop acting like a baby,” Seonghwa said simply. He poured Hongjoong a cup of water and brought it over to him. 

Hongjoong elected to ignore Seonghwa’s comment. He took the cup of water from his first mate and downed it in one go. With a huff, he set it back down on the table and buried his face in his hands. How had everything fallen apart so quickly?

Seonghwa refilled the cup and set it in front of Hongjoong again. “I think the sea is cursing us,” he said conversationally.

“It’s not,” Hongjoong bit out, “it’s this prisoner. I should have never brought him on board. Things didn’t fall apart until he showed up.”

“Things have been falling apart since well before then,” Seonghwa said, “perhaps, and hear me out on this, perhaps the sea sent him to end our troubles and our mistreatment of him is why they’re getting worse.”

Hongjoong scoffed and took another sip of water. “You sound like you’re the one that’s been drinking,” he said, “what troubles was he even supposed to end?”

“Yunho’s treatment of Wooyoung, San barely ever listening to you, the two of them clashing heads, us losing massive stores of food to rats and mold, I could go on. We were struggling before he showed up,” Seonghwa said, “and I don’t know about you, but the rest of us were praying for a miracle.”

“And we found two merchant ships in the meantime, Yunho told me he wants to dump Wooyoung next time we dock, and San has been much more behaved recently,” Hongjoong listed off, “the prisoner didn’t solve anything.”

“Yunho beat Wooyoung within an inch of his life,  _ you  _ nearly caused a mutiny against yourself by ordering Yunho and Mingi to beat up San while knowing he would retaliate, and neither merchant ship has given us enough usable supplies to be able to go without docking for more than two weeks,” Seonghwa said, “which you  _ know  _ is dangerous. The sea is punishing us.”

“Dock at the next port you find. I don’t care where it is. Let Wooyoung go, have him take the prisoner if he wants, and let anyone else that wasn’t to leave go with him. Trade some of the old jewelry in the captain's cabin for food for the rest of us and then we’ll set back out,” Hongjoong ordered. 

“No,” Seonghwa said plainly, “I’m not going to let myself get killed just because your head is too far up your ass to see the signs that the sea is sending you. If those are your orders, then I’m leaving the ship and I’m taking everyone else with me.”

“Go then,” Hongjoong said, not picking his head up, “go take the crew and find them better lives on land. Go finally follow through on a threat you’ve given me.” 

“You’re really telling me that there’s not a single thing about Yeosang that seems significant to you?” Seonghwa asked, “his name, his appearance, nothing?”

Hongjoong stiffened and his lips curled into a frown. Why was his first mate so insistent? “Seonghwa, I said go,” he said flatly, “there’s nothing more you need to know.”

“Your crew is depending on you to keep them alive and well,” Seonghwa said as he stood up, “I hope you don’t let them down.” With that, he went to check on Wooyoung and Yeosang.

Hongjoong grabbed the cup of water and threw it across the room. The resulting crash when the tin hit the opposite wall wasn’t satisfying enough so he pushed himself to his feet and stalked onto the deck. There wasn’t much out here but at least there were no people either. For the first time in a very long time, he took the wheel and began sailing them towards the closest port. 

Yeosang had been awake for a while, swatting at Wooyoung who was hovering over him like a mother hen. “I’m fine,” he kept saying, but the younger boy would not have it. He was grateful when Seonghwa finally showed up. 

San watched the whole exchange from the crow’s nest, doing his best to hide his laughter. The captain was  _ plastered  _ and more pissed than he had ever seen him before. He didn’t climb down until he was sure Seonghwa had taken the captain inside.

“Wooyoung, go off to bed,” Seonghwa ordered gently, “I’ll keep an eye on Yeosang. Can you send Jongho up?”

Jongho hesitantly made his way up to where Seonghwa and Yeosang were. He didn’t know what to expect with all of the yelling that had happened on the deck earlier. 

“Jongho, can you help me move Yeosang across the hall to the empty room?” Seonghwa asked, already helping the injured man to sit up.

“Are you sure we should move him? I don’t want Captain pissed at me if we hurt him more,” Jongho said. He hesitantly made his way across the room but stopped halfway. 

“Yes,” Seonghwa said, “the captain isn’t about his wits right now and needs to be separated from Yeosang for a bit. We won’t take him far.”

Jongho’s eyes widened but he knew he couldn’t ask. He walked over to the bed and carefully helped support Yeosang. 

Between the two of them, they managed to move the injured prisoner across the hall to an empty room. “If you’d bring me a pitcher of warm water and the medical chest, Jongho,” Seonghwa said, “Then some hot bath water for the captain.”

Jongho nodded and rushed out of the room. He brought Seonghwa some water and the chest before rushing back to the captain’s room. 

Seonghwa did what he could to clean up Yeosang’s face and replace the soiled bandaging San had placed earlier. “You made him really upset,” he said quietly, “I’ve never seen him like this.” “I don’t even know what I said,” Yeosang mumbled miserably. 

Jongho filled the tub in the captain’s room with hot water and then went back to find Seonghwa. “Hyung, Captain’s room is all set. I don’t really want to find him to tell him though,” he admitted quietly. 

“That’s alright,” Seonghwa said, “you can go grab another pitcher of water for Yeosang. I’ll go deal with the captain.”

Jongho’s shoulders sagged in relief and went to the galley to get more water for Yeosang. When he came back, Seonghwa was already gone. 

Seonghwa headed back up to the deck, looking for Hongjoong. “C’mon, Captain, I cleared him out of your room,” he called. 

Hongjoong glanced up when Seonghwa approached him. He waved an arm in the general direction the ship was heading in. “Dock at that port and take everyone with you when you get off,” he said quietly. He pushed himself up to stand and moved out of the way so Seonghwa could take the wheel. 

Seonghwa rolled his eyes as Hongjoong disappeared belowdecks. The captain was so hot headed. 

Hongjoong sighed when he finally got to his room. He shed his stained shirt and climbed into bed. Wrapping himself around a pillow, he let one single tear fall down his cheek before he pulled himself together. Hopefully when he woke up again, everything would be mostly back to normal. 

Slowly but surely, Yeosang’s health started to improve. Miraculously, he didn’t wind up with an infection. However, he was still confined to one room with no way to change his clothes or bathe. 

Hongjoong had given Jongho all of the jewelry he didn’t want so they would have enough to support themselves. Unsurprisingly though, no one left the ship longer than to run into town for some food, not even Wooyoung. He had eventually sailed off with everyone still on board. 

Yeosang was aware of them docking for a few days before returning to open sea, but not by much. A few days after he realized they were sailing again, the ship got caught in a massive storm. 

Hongjoong found himself beside his crew trying to prepare the ship for the storm. It was odd to work besides them again but no one said anything. Of course they didn’t finish everything in time and were now struggling to tie down the last sails in the roaring wind. 

Wooyoung had gotten pulled into helping secure the ship, despite having no sailing experience. Just as they were trying to secure the mainsail, the beam swung across. It caught Wooyoung in the shoulder and sent him flying across the deck. He just barely managed to grab onto the railing, else he would have plummeted into the sea. 

“Wooyoung!” Yunho cried. He raced across the deck and reached over the rail to grab his lover’s arm. Running off of pure adrenaline, he pulled Wooyoung back over the railing to safety. The momentum caused him to collapse to the deck, pulling Wooyoung with him. “Are you okay?” he asked nervously. 

Wooyoung wanted to cry. That had been terrifying. “I’m fine,” he finally choked out, “go help the captain; I’ll get to safety.” Once Yunho was up and across the deck again, he started to slowly pull himself across the slick boards, staying low so the wind wouldn’t catch him again. 

Yunho instructed Jongho to help Wooyoung back to his room. The younger boy stayed by Wooyoung’s side, making sure he made it to safety. 

Wooyoung thanked Jongho once he made it to his and Yunho’s room and quickly shut himself inside. He stripped out of the wet clothes as quickly as he could and slipped straight into bed, not bothering to dress again. He just wanted to warm up. 

Jongho made his way back to the deck and ended up replacing Yunho not long after. Yunho was more than happy to go back to his room now that the main sail was tied down. He opened the door quietly, and snuck over to the dresser to grab some dry clothes. 

Wooyoung was completely buried in the comforter on Yunho’s bed, still shaking. He was sure if the cold or the shock was getting to him more. 

When Yunho was changed and mostly dry he climbed into bed, muffling a cough into his elbow. He wrapped himself around Wooyoung, not even registering the boy was naked. “Come here, baby, I’ll warm you up,” he whispered. 

Wooyoung didn’t even fight it; he pressed as close to Yunho as he could possibly get. “That was so scary,” he mumbled after a while.

Yunho tightened his grip but not enough to hurt Wooyoung. “I really thought I was gonna lose you,” he whispered shakily, “I-I don’t know what I would have done.”

“I’m right here,” Wooyoung mumbled, “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good. I love you so much, Wooyoungie. And I’m gonna make sure you don’t get stuck on the deck working anymore. That’s not what you’re here for. Captain can get more crew if he really needs the help,” Yunho said.

“I love it though,” Wooyoung said, “it’s not much physically but I love helping out and actually having a useful purpose. Please,  _ please  _ don't take that away from me.”

Yunho sighed. “Okay, you can help out if you really want to but I don’t want you out in any more storms. It’s not worth losing you or having you get hurt,” he said. 

Wooyoung could agree to that. If he was going to die, he didn’t want it to be like that. 

Yunho hummed and buried his face in Wooyoung’s neck. He pressed a gentle kiss to the soft skin above the iron band before settling down to get some sleep. 

Wooyoung was nervous. Yunho was never this gentle anymore. He was waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

Over the next few days it got better. Hongjoong had been working on the deck with his crew more and found the distraction to be welcoming. It all came crashing back down on him when he saw Yeosang again. 

Yeosang had been allowed by Seonghwa to take walks with Jongho to the galley, so as to get him up and moving. He was surprised by how long it took him to run into the captain. When he did, he just ducked his head and scurried off back to his room. 

That night, Hongjoong found himself holed up in his room, hiding from Seonghwa, and drinking until he felt numb. When he first brought the prisoner aboard he had been fine, but after what had happened, he still wasn’t the same. When he looked at Yeosang all he could see was Ke- no, he wasn’t going to think about him. Nothing he did could push him or the comments out of his head. He was so wrapped up in his own head that he didn’t even notice when he began to cry. 

Seonghwa was walking past the captain’s quarters, headed for his own, when he heard the sound of crying. He shook his head and poked into Yeosang’s room. “Captain wants to see you,” he lied. The prisoner got up and carefully made his way across the hall.

Hongjoong’s head snapped up when the door opened. Yeosang was the last person he had expected to see standing there. “Go away! Get away from me!” he screamed. He threw the tankard at Yeosang but his aim was horribly off and he watched it collide with the wall a few feet away from the prisoner. “You don’t deserve to be in here after what you did to me!”

“Seonghwa said you wanted to see me,” Yeosang said uncertainly. He closed the door and stooped to pick up the tankard. 

Hongjoong wiped at his eyes and unsteadily pushed himself to his feet. “He lied! I don’t want to see you! I never want to see you again,” he cried angrily. He stalked across the room, barely keeping himself upright, ready to physically throw Yeosang out if he had to. 

“Captain,” Yeosang said unsurely. He set the tankard to the side and caught the red haired man when he all but fell into him. 

Hongjoong grabbed onto Yeosang’s shirt but he didn’t have the strength to move the prisoner. “You...you have no idea!” Hongjoong choked out. The last person he wanted to breakdown in front of was the prisoner but seeing him again was too much for his overwhelmed brain to handle. 

Yeosang didn’t have much choice but to lower the captain to the ground, since he was being dragged down anyway. They both took a hard seat on the floor. 

Hongjoong’s chest was heaving and his whole body was shaking. He was a mess, to put it lightly. He tried to hold it in like he usually did but the alcohol had blown his self control to bits. Against his will, he sobbed into Yeosang’s shoulder, not even entirely realizing what he was doing. 

Yeosang didn’t know what else to do except hold the captain to him and let him cry. He had never been in a predicament like this before. 

It finally dawned on Hongjoong what he was doing so he roughly pushed himself away from the prisoner. He didn’t get very far before his eyes landed on his face. Through his blurry vision, Hongjoong could almost forget it was Yeosang in front of him. “You look so much like him,” he said before he could stop himself.

“Like who?” Yeosang asked quietly. Did the captain have a partner he didn’t know about?

Hongjoong shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. He’s gone,” he said miserably. He pushed himself away from Yeosang but couldn’t seem to get his feet underneath him to stand up. He gave up and just sat in a heap on the floor, making sure to keep the prisoner in his field of vision. 

“Is that why you haven’t killed me?” Yeosang asked quietly, “because I look like him?”

Hongjoong just nodded. He buried his face in his hands to try and muffle his sobs. Why did he have to relive this again? It had been years and all of the sudden it felt like everything just happened. 

The captain had clearly never talked about this person he had lost and it was coming back to bite him in the ass now. “Why don’t you tell me about him?” Yeosang asked. 

“He was perfect,” Hongjoong started, “I-I knew him almost my whole life and he was one of the few people that gave a shit about me. He took care of me and actually meant it when he said he loved me. We had our whole life planned out and they...they took him away from me!” He dissolved into another round of sobs when he finished. It hurt so much to talk about him after all these years. 

“Who did?” Yeosang asked, although he already had an inkling. 

“Your kind!” Hongjoong spat, “they promised him all these things and he agreed to go to give us a better life when he got out but he didn’t come home! They didn’t even bring his body back!”

“What was his name?” Yeosang asked. When he was in the navy, he had made it a point to recover as many fallen sailors as possible.

“K-Kenta. Takada Kenta,” Hongjoong choked out. It felt weird to say his name after all these years. 

Yeosang felt his heart twinge. He’d been so young and so notoriously bright, the sunshine of their ship. He remembered hearing Kenta talk about sending letters to his lover at home whenever he had the chance. Kenta had been one of the patients he’d gone to rescue, having been trapped in bed with a minor infection. Yeosang had collapsed and succumbed to his own injuries before he managed to reach Kenta. 

“And I’m gonna hunt down every last one of those bastards down and kill them for what they did to him,” Hongjoong growled weakly. He struggled to push himself up to stand but he was unsuccessful again. 

“It wasn’t the navy’s fault,” Yeosang said quietly, closing his eyes, “it was mine. I couldn’t get to him in time. I’m  _ so  _ sorry.”

Hongjoong looked up at Yeosang. “You knew him? What happened? They didn’t tell me anything. Just that he wasn’t coming home. What happened!?” he asked desperately. 

“He had a minor infection and got trapped in the infirmary when vandals lit our ship up,” Yeosang said, “I did everything I could to get everyone out, I swear I did, but I couldn’t get to everyone before I passed out. They lost the ship completely; there was barely anything of him left.”

Hongjoong broke down again. They let his Kenta die. They let his Kenta die a painful death at the bottom of the ocean after promising him he would come home after a few short years. “Those bastards will pay!” he screamed in anguish.

“They don’t know who set the fire,” Yeosang said, “it could have been protestors, or pirates, or anyone really. Kenta and a few others were in an isolation room so they wouldn’t get any more sick and the beams in the hallway collapsed. There was no way to reach them; we tried.”

Hongjoong was sobbing so hard he couldn’t speak. It would have been less painful if he never found out but at least he had some closure now. 

“I’m  _ so  _ sorry,” Yeosang said again, “I’d have reached out if I knew how.”

Hongjoong shook his head. He pushed himself across the floor away from Yeosang, ignoring the the splinters he was getting in his palms. “I don’t want to think about him anymore,” he choked out, “I want to  _ forget _ .”

“He talked about you all the time,” Yeosang said, “he was so excited for when he’d be discharged and be able to go home to you. I don’t know how many of his letters made it to you, but he wrote one every other day.”

“H-He talked about me?” Hongjoong asked shakily, “and I only got a couple letters. I never had the money to send him any back but I still have them.”

“Constantly,” Yeosang said with a nod, “it’s funny. I can picture him talking and hear him saying it, but I can’t remember your name.”

“It’s Hongjoong,” the Captain said quietly. He pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. He thought he had run out of tears but a few stray ones rolled down his cheek. 

Yeosang nodded. He remembered that now. “Every other word was Hongjoong this, Hongjoong that,” he said, “he really loved you. Don’t doubt that.”

Hongjoong hid his face in his knees. “I loved him so much,” he said quietly, “I’ll never forgive myself for letting him go.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Yeosang said, “he got so much joy and pride out of sailing. It was our fault for not protecting him better.”

Hongjoong’s shoulders shook as he tried to hold more tears back. He bit the inside of his cheek but it wasn’t enough. A quiet sob escaped his lips. All of the sadness and anger he had pent up over the last five years was finally catching up to him. 

Yeosang didn’t know what he could do to make the captain feel better. This had clearly been hurting him for a while. 

“Don’t say  _ anything _ ,” Hongjoong bit out, “if any of the crew finds out, I’ll drown you like they did to him.”

“He didn’t drown,” Yeosang said in a whisper, “he probably succumbed to smoke inhalation first. I won’t tell anyone, Hongjoong, I promise.”

One last choked sob slipped past Hongjoong’s lips. He finally, finally managed to pull himself to his feet. “Thank you. You can sleep in here tonight,” he said as he stumbled towards the door.

Yeosang carefully got up as well and pulled the red haired pirate into a tight hug. “I’m sorry,” he said again before letting him go. He wouldn’t stay in here. That would be just cruel. 

Hongjoong was surprised when Yeosang hugged him. He didn’t say anything else, just blindly left his room and headed up to the deck again. It wasn’t until he made it back to the barrel of liquor that he realized he forgot his tankard. Not caring he knelt down and uncorked the barrel, drinking directly from the stream of liquor that poured out. 

Yeosang slipped back across the hall and into his own room before finally breaking down into tears himself. It made sense now, why he was being subjected to all of this. He couldn’t save Kenta and now he was suffering for it. 

Hongjoong pulled away and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. There was no way he was going to make it back to his room now so he took a hard seat on the deck and leaned against some barrels. Hopefully none of his crew would find him. 

Yeosang sat with his back against the door, sobbing his eyes out. There were a number of people that hadn’t made it out of that fire, but none of the deaths hurt like Kenta’s did. 

Hongjoong leaned his head back against the crates and closed his eyes. A few tears streamed silently down his already stained cheeks. He felt disgusting. Crying had only made him feel worse and he just hoped he could get his life back soon. 

Yeosang wondered if things would change now. Would Hongjoong be kinder to him now that he knew the truth about what had happened to Kenta? He doubted it. 

Hongjoong didn’t sleep. How could he? All he could see was Kenta’s face the day he had said goodbye. He barely registered the sun coming up but he still couldn’t force himself to move.

Seonghwa was the first to make it on deck in the morning and he was glad he was because he found the captain sitting against a drained barrel of bourbon, looking like he’d been crying all night. With a sad sigh, he helped him up and down to his bed. “You’re covered in alcohol,” he said, clicking his tongue, “I’ll have someone draw you a bath. Don’t get in bed until you’re clean.”

Hongjoong leaned heavily on Seonghwa, almost pulling him down onto the deck. His legs felt like jelly and he was dehydrated from crying so much. “No,” he whispered, throat too raw to talk any louder, “I don’t want any of them to see me like this.”

“I’ll have Yeosang help me then,” Seonghwa said. He left the room and went across the hall. Yeosang didn’t look much better, but he willingly helped draw the bath and offered to stay and help Hongjoong. 

Hongjoong didn’t protest anymore. He climbed into the bath and leaned his head on the back of the tub. He let his eyes close again. Maybe this was all just a horrible nightmare he would wake up soon from. But maybe Seonghwa was right and this was the sea cursing him. 

Yeosang stayed quiet as he found some soaps in the captain’s cabinet and used them to wash the grime and alcohol out of Hongjoong’s hair. He felt bad for the captain now. 

Hongjoong flinched when Yeosang suddenly started washing his hair. “You don’t have to do this,” he said weakly. He attempted to wave the prisoner off but he barely got his arm out of the water. 

“Just let me,” Yeosang said quietly. He scooped the water up to wash out the captain’s hair. Once he was done, he stepped away and looked for some clean clothes for Hongjoong. 

Hongjoong pushed himself up to stand and shakily climbed out of the tub. He grabbed a towel and tied it around his waist. Now that he was beginning to sober up, he was starting to feel worse again. He didn’t know how he was going to sneak onto the deck now that the crew was out but he would figure it out soon.

“Here,” Yeosang said, handing the captain some clothes. “I’m under strict orders to keep you below decks for the day.”

Hongjoong took the clothes in one hand but didn’t get dressed yet. “No, I don’t listen to Seonghwa,” he said, “and I need a drink. So either you bring me one down here or I’m going up myself.”

“Hongjoong,” Yeosang said quietly, “you just went through a massive emotional drain. Let yourself rest a bit, okay?”

“You’re the reason this happened and you’re  _ not  _ going to be the reason I feel like shit for the rest of the day. So I highly recommend you remember your place on this ship and stop trying to control me,” Hongjoong said angrily.

“What will make you feel better? Besides alcohol,” Yeosang added hurriedly. 

“Short of having him back? Nothing,” Hongjoong said flatly. He turned around, not wanting to look at Yeosang anymore, and slowly began to get dressed. 

Yeosang took a deep breath. This was probably the worst idea he had ever had. “What if I...pretended for you?” he suggested quietly.

Hongjoong froze. It was probably the closest thing he was going to get. But would it work? “You didn’t know him like I did,” he said quietly. 

“No, but I knew him enough to make some fair guesses about how you two would interact,” Yeosang said, “you said I look like him. It’s worth a try, right? If it doesn’t work, I’ll go get you a tankard of bourbon myself.”

“Okay, we can try,” Hongjoong said shakily. He slowly turned around to face Yeosang, his distorted vision already helping. 

Yeosang did his best to mimic Kenta’s facial expressions as he took Hongjoong’s hand and guided him to bed. “What would he call you?” he asked. 

Hongjoong held Yeosang’s hand back, his skin was soft and comforting. “He sometimes called me Joongie but he preferred to use pet names,” he said. 

“So what, like, baby? That kind of stuff?” Yeosang asked. He pulled the covers back and waited for Hongjoong to lay down first before sliding in next to him and sidling up.

Hongjoong nodded. “Mostly baby. He always liked to remind me that I was younger,” he said. He wrapped his arms around Yeosang and held him close. 

Yeosang settled in and got comfortable. “What would you two talk about?”

“Before he left we talked a lot about what we would do when he got back. Mostly moving out and how we were gonna adopt dogs off the streets ‘cuz we couldn’t have any kids,” Hongjoong said. His hand absentmindedly ran up and down Yeosang’s side. 

Yeosang hummed. It was adorable that they’d had dreams like that before. He had always wished for that kind of love. “Could adopt kids off the streets too,” he mused quietly. 

“I thought about it but I’m not very good with kids at all. I don’t have a lot to go off of and I don’t want to fuck them up,” Hongjoong said softly, “dogs are a lot easier to care for.”

“You seem to do alright with the kids you have here,” Yeosang said, “Yunho and San and Jongho. He respects you a lot.”

“I don’t have control over San anymore, or even Yunho. I’m surprised neither of them have tried to kill me yet,” Hongjoong said honestly, “And Jongho’s only a good kid because I saved him.But sometimes I wonder if it would have been better to leave him. It isn’t safe for him on this ship anymore. Hell it isn’t safe for any of them anymore.”

“That kid idolizes you, babe,” Yeosang said softly, “I don’t think you could get him off this boat even if you threw him overboard.”

Hongjoong sighed quietly. “He’s such a good kid. But he deserves so much better than this. When Seonghwa threatened to take everyone with him, I was relieved he was gonna take Jongho but none of them left,” he whispered. Maybe it was the hangover, maybe it was Yeosang’s gentle nature, maybe it was a combination of the two but Hongjoong hadn’t found it this easy to open up to someone in years. Maybe it was working. 

“Seonghwa threatened a peaceful mutiny?” Yeosang asked, surprised. “That’s not like him at all.”

Hongjoong chuckled quietly. “He doesn’t usually follow through on his threats but I thought he was going to this time,” he said, “we pledged sobriety to each other a long time ago and threatened to leave if the other broke it.”

“Does he know?” Yeosang asked, “about Kenta? He knew him as well, I’m sure he’d understand.”

Hongjoong shook his head. “None of them know. And I’m sure he’d understand but our pasts have gone relatively unspoken and I’m happy to keep it that way,” he said. 

“Seonghwa was one of Kenta’s closest friends,” Yeosang said softly, “I’m sure he’d love to be able to talk about him.”

Hongjoong’s chest tightened and he fought to hold back some tears that threatened to fall. “It took me a long time to get over the fact that Seonghwa was in the navy and I tried to forget about it and move on,” he said in a small voice. 

“I can’t decide for you,” Yeosang said, “but I think it would be good for you both. Maybe lift some of the heaviness on this ship.”

Hongjoong sighed. “I can’t yet,” he said shakily, “I can’t talk to him about this yet.” He loosened his grip on Yeosang and rolled so his back was to the younger man.

“That’s okay,” Yeosang said. He turned over and loosely wrapped around Hongjoong from behind. “But just know that you have him too.”

Hongjoong barely kept himself together when Yeosang wrapped around his back. It had been so long since he had been held, even like this, and on top of everything else going on it was overwhelming. He forced himself to stay in bed and not move but the longer he laid there the stronger the temptation to get up and leave got. 

They laid there quietly for a while, but Yeosang eventually couldn’t stop himself from asking. “Are you going to imprison me again after this?” he asked quietly. 

“No,” Hongjoong said quietly, “you’ll be free to go when we reach the next port. That probably won’t be for another week or so though.” It hurt to even be around Yeosang and he couldn’t keep the younger man on the ship any longer. He needed to be in top shape to run the ship as it needed to be. 

“What if I don’t want to go?” Yeosang asked softly, “this ship needs a doctor and I’m the closest thing you’ll find.”

“Y-You don’t want to go? After all the things you’ve called me, after all the things you’ve threatened to do, after all the things  _ I’ve  _ done to you, you still want to stay? Why, Yeosang? This ship survived for years before you showed up,” Hongjoong said. 

“Something just tells me that I’m here for a reason,” Yeosang said, “I couldn’t tell you what it is, but I think leaving this boat would be very very bad for us both.”

Hongjoong scoffed. “You sound like Seonghwa,” he grumbled, “if you insist on staying, I won’t force you to leave.”

“Besides,” Yeosang said with a small smile, “who else will patch up Wooyoung the next time Yunho throws a fit?” Without thinking, he pressed a soft kiss to the back of Hongjoong’s neck. 

Hongjoong couldn’t suppress the shiver that ran down his spine. “Yunho has been doing better lately so I hope Wooyoung doesn’t need patching up again,” he said shakily.

“I hope so too,” Yeosang said, “he was so injured, the poor thing.” His hands tightened briefly on Hongjoong’s waist when he felt the older man shiver. 

“It’s not the first time that happened,” Hongjoong admitted quietly, “but I hope it’s the last.” A small piece of his mind was yelling at him for getting so comfortable with Yeosang but he couldn’t help it. He hadn’t had someone support him like this in so long. 

“You know, you’re not really all that bad,” Yeosang said quietly, “I mean, did you force yourself on me? Yeah. But I’d like to think you had a motive behind that more than just to do it for fun. I’m sorry I said those things about you the other night.”

Hongjoong hadn’t felt guilt like this in a long time. “You’re the only person that’s ever said anything like that to me,” he said quietly, “and you don’t have to apologize. I would have said the same things if I were in your shoes.”

“I don’t know what exactly it was that set you off, but I’m sorry it hurt you so much,” Yeosang said, “it’s easy to forget each other’s humanity in this business.”

“It was the comments you made about no one wanting me,” Hongjoong admitted quietly, “you’re right but it just caught me off guard. It’s been a long time since I’ve been wanted and I didn’t expect anyone to say something like that. But I deserve it for everything I put you through.”

Yeosang scoffed at himself. “It wasn’t even  _ true _ ,” he said, rolling onto his back and staring at the ceiling. He didn’t let go of the captain’s hand. 

Hongjoong’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion.He rolled over so that he could see Yeosang, slightly confused that the younger man was still holding his hand. “You say that quite confidently for someone who barely knows me. It was just a sudden reminder how much I miss him. I’m not angry with you anymore. I’m just going to need a little time to try and forget about him again,” he said. 

“I might not know you, but I’m not blind either,” Yeosang said, “I’m about ninety five percent certain that both Seonghwa and San would fuck you if given the chance. I would too, under specific circumstances.”

Hongjoong had to laugh. “I can’t believe you’re still not thinking straight,” he said with a shake of his head, “Seonghwa and San would not and....you? You would? Under what circumstances?”

“You’re pretty, what can I say?” Yeosang said with a shrug. “Seonghwa would definitely have you both ways.” He strategically ignored Hongjoong’s question. 

Hongjoong scoffed. “Pretty isn’t a word I’d use anymore. And I’m sure Seonghwa would get a kick out of you thinking this,” he said with a chuckle.

“No? I would. Especially with the red hair,” Yeosang said, “although you’re in need of some color again, your roots are getting long.”

Hongjoong was starting to get flustered. How was Yeosang getting to him like this? “I don’t think I’m going to do it again,” he said, trying to dodge the younger man’s comments, “I don’t want to waste money we don’t have on something so unnecessary.” 

“At least let me cut it before you go full mullet back here,” Yeosang said. He reached up to play with the longer hairs at the back of Hongjoong’s neck. 

“It’s not that long,” Hongjoong defended, “almost everyone let’s their hair get a little long.” Most of his crew kept theirs shorter than his but it still wasn’t that long. 

“And it looks good,” Yeosang said hurriedly, “but the mullet look just...doesn’t suit you. If you grow it out, do it evenly. I promise my hands are steady.”

“Fine, you can cut it,” Hongjoong relented, “but if you make it too short, I will not be happy.” He didn’t really have a threat but he hoped he sounded serious enough. 

“It’ll look good,” Yeosang promised, “but it can wait. It’s not unbearably long yet. I really do need to cut my own though.” He had never let his hair get this long before.

“It looks good long. And it’s better to keep it a little bit longer when it starts getting colder,” Hongjoong said. 

Yeosang hummed. He knew that to be true. “Alright, enough chit chat,” he said, “it’s naptime for you, captain.”

Hongjoong hummed and let his eyes fall closed. He wasn’t going to argue with that. “You can stay if you want, but you don’t have to,” he said in a small voice. 

“I’ll stay,” Yeosang said, curling up and settling in, “I’m comfy.”

Hongjoong chuckled quietly. “Night, Yeosang,” he said. He fell asleep not soon after that, obviously needing the rest. After an indeterminate amount of time, Hongjoong woke up with a quiet groan. His head was killing him and the dream he just had had put him almost in tears. Careful not to wake Yeosang, he slipped out of bed and made his way onto the deck. 

Yeosang was jostled awake when the captain slipped out of bed. By the look on his face, his nap had not been relaxing. He gave him a few minutes before getting up to go find him. 

Hongjoong stumbled blindly around the deck. He needed a drink and he needed to talk to Seonghwa but he wasn’t sure which one was more important at the moment. 

Yeosang watched from the doorway as Hongjoong stumbled around. He actually felt bad for the captain. None of this had to be easy. “Hey,” he called out, “you okay?”

Hongjoong whipped around and froze when he saw Yeosang. “Y-Yeah I’m fine,” he said, “I just needed some fresh air. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Yeosang nodded and disappeared down the stairs. He knew Hongjoong needed to sort himself out. 

Hongjoong took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair. He needed to talk to Seonghwa but he couldn’t bother him at this hour. While he waited for it to be a more reasonable time, he sat by the barrel of bourbon and had a drink. 

Yeosang crawled back into Hongjoong’s bed to wait for the captain. After a while, he fell asleep again.

When the sun started to rise, Hongjoong pulled himself to his feet and went to knock on Seonghwa’s door. Hopefully they could get this over with before the crew started getting suspicious. 

Seonghwa startled awake and groggily got up to open the door. “Cap’n?” he asked when he found Hongjoong on the other side. 

“Can I...can I ask you something?” Hongjoong asked in a small voice. He kept his head down, hoping Seonghwa wouldn’t smell the alcohol on his breath. 

“Course,” Seonghwa mumbled, rubbing his eye. He stepped back so the captain could enter his room. 

Hongjoong closed the door and leaned against it. He took a deep breath to collect himself before speaking. “Do you remember any of the men on your ship from when you were in the navy?” he asked. 

“Most of them,” Seonghwa asked, sitting on the bed. “Why?”

“Do you...do you remember Ta-,” Hongjoong tipped his head back against the door and closed his eyes, “do you remember Takada Kenta?” His voice was no higher than a whisper. 

“Of course I do,” Seonghwa said sadly, “you knew him?”

Hongjoong sucked in a breath and nodded. “I was the one waiting for him to come home,” he whispered sadly.

“Oh, Hongjoong,” Seonghwa said softly, looking up at the captain, “I had no idea. I’m so sorry.”

“Yeosang said you were one of his best friends. H-He told me what happened and…” Hongjoong got cut off by the lump that formed in his throat. He wasn’t going to let himself cry again. He had done enough of that. 

“I was,” Seonghwa said, “we were bunkmates. Losing him was...rough.”

Hongjoong nodded, still not opening his eyes. “I thought I was okay. I thought after all these years I was finally fine but some of the things Yeosang said ripped my heart out all over again. I’m sorry I broke our pledge but I didn’t know what else to do,” he said miserably.

“It’s okay,” Seonghwa said, “I get it. I can’t imagine the navy told you very much of what happened.”

“I wasn’t technically family so they wouldn’t talk to me. The only thing they told me was that his body wouldn’t be returned,” Hongjoong said. He finally picked his head up and opened his eyes.

“You wouldn’t have wanted it,” Seonghwa said, haunted look in his eyes, “I was part of the crew that pulled him and the two others from the wreck. He was so burnt up, Joong, if we hadn’t known who was in there to begin with, we wouldn’t have even known who he was. As it was, we couldn’t tell which of them was who.”

Hongjoong’s knees gave out and he slid to the floor. “He didn’t deserve that,” he said, voice thick, “he deserved to live a long life. He deserved to come home! They promised him he’d come home!”

“I know,” Seonghwa said, “I know he did. No one deserves what he went through. Yeosang doesn’t even know the worst of it; he was unconscious through all the recovery efforts.”

“Those bastards are gonna pay for what they did to him,” Hongjoong growled, “they’re gonna pay for lying to him.” At least Seonghwa finally understood the real reason he despised the navy.

“What happened was outside of everyone’s control,” Seonghwa said, “we don’t even know who started the fire, Joong. Hell, if Yeosang hadn’t gone back to the ship early to check on his patients, we might not have even had a chance at saving him. There  _ really  _ wouldn’t have been anything left then.”

Hongjoong glared at Seonghwa and pushed himself up on shaky legs. “Of course you’re going to defend them,” he spat, “I don’t care what  _ could  _ have happened, I care about what  _ did  _ happen.”

“I’m not defending anything,” Seonghwa said, “but it was a freak accident. He knew the risks when he signed up for the navy, but there was nothing that could have been done to prevent what happened.”

Hongjoong leaned heavily against the wall. “There had to have been  _ something  _ that could have been done. Kenta was always so careful to stay safe for me, this had to be someone’s fault!” he said desperately. 

Seonghwa shook his head. “That requires logic and there’s no logic in tragedy,” he said, “what happened to Kenta was horrifying. I still have nightmares about it sometimes. But dwelling on it and looking for someone to blame isn’t going to bring him back; all it’ll do is make you miserable. He wouldn’t  _ want _ you to be miserable, Joong.”

Seonghwa was right; Kenta wouldn’t want him to be miserable. “I don’t know what to do. I owe it to him to do this but I can’t take any of you with me anymore,” he said, not entirely registering the words coming out of his mouth. 

“None of us are going to leave you,” Seonghwa said, “but, hey, he never got any proper memorial, right? Why don’t we do something tonight? I think there’s paper lanterns in the hold.”

“I don’t want the crew to know anything. I want them to think everything is status quo,” Hongjoong said sadly, “if San finds out, I’ll really lose control over him.”

“Then we’ll do it just us,” Seonghwa said, “and Yeosang, if you’d like.”

Hongjoong nodded. “Yeah, I’d like that. Yeosang can be there,” he said, “he’s been oddly friendly lately. I’m waiting for him to start hating me again.”

“He’s always had an...odd moral code,” Seonghwa said, “he rarely changes his mind about a person, but once he does, he never goes back. And I know he feels guilty about what happened.”

Hongjoong sighed. “I know this is what I wanted but it just doesn’t feel right. And it hurts everytime I look at him because he just looks so much like Kenta and he’s gentle now,” he said.

“Maybe he’s your trick to finally moving on,” Seonghwa said, “I don’t know. All I know is he deserves closure too.”

“Maybe,” Hongjoong whispered, “I’m gonna go tell him. You know what to do with the crew in the meantime. But please, don’t say anything to them.”

“You have my word,” Seonghwa said. Downstairs, Yeosang was shocked awake out of a nightmare. As soon as he registered that he was awake, he started bawling like a baby.

“Thank you, Seonghwa,” Hongjoong said sincerely. He left the room to go back to his own. As he got closer, he could hear Yeosang crying and he started to panic. He raced down the rest of the stairs and burst into the room. “Yeosang? What happened? Are you okay?” he asked nervously. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Yeosang said hurriedly, mopping at his face with his shirt sleeves. “It was just a nightmare, I’m okay.”

Hongjoong sat on the edge of the bed. “It’s okay,” he said soothingly, “do you wanna talk about it or do you just want to lay down again?”

“I’m okay,” Yeosang said again, still breathing heavily. He could still hear Kenta screaming. 

Hongjoong slid a little closer and hesitantly wrapped an arm around Yeosang. “It’s okay to be upset. I’ve been a wreck for how many days? And you didn’t complain once. Let me take care of you now,” he said gently. 

“I laid there listening to him die,” Yeosang said finally, “but I was trapped under a beam and there was nothing I could do. I can still hear him screaming, Joong.”

Hongjoong’s chest tightened and his breathing became more shallow as he struggled to hold himself together. He could barely handle when the navy told him he was gone, let alone be there when he died. “I’m so sorry,” he finally choked out. 

“It’s not your fault, it’s mine, it’s my fault,” Yeosang rambled angrily, “I should have done more, I should’ve gotten up and rescued him, but I didn’t and I’m so s-sorry.” He broke down crying again.

“It’s not your fault,” Hongjoong said thickly, “you did everything you could for him and I know he’s so grateful.” He pulled Yeosang closer. They both needed the comfort right now. 

“E-Every time I f-fall asleep, a-all I can hear is him sc-screaming,” Yeosang sobbed as he clung to Hongjoong, “they didn’t g-get to me until a-after he st-stopped.”

Hongjoong couldn’t help it. Silent tears rolled down his cheeks and he did everything in his power not to sob openly. He didn’t know how Yeosang could live like this.

“I’m sorry, Hongjoong, I’m sorry,” Yeosang kept repeating. He had caused the captain so much pain by failing to save Kenta. 

“It’s okay, Yeosangie, it’s okay,” Hongjoong said soothingly, “you did everything you could for him and you took such good care of him and I’m so glad he was in good hands. It’s not your fault this happened.”

“I sh-should’ve p-powered through,” Yeosang said, finally calming down enough to wipe his tears, “I sh-should’ve sacrificed m-myself to g-get him out.”

“N-No, because you don’t know if he would have made it home anyway,” Hongjoong said sadly, “you did everything you could to help him. You sacrificed your safety to try and help him.”

“He h-had someone to g-go home to,” Yeosang cried, “I didnt! I don’t!”

Hongjoong closed his eyes for a moment. He wasn’t strong enough for this. He just wasn’t. But he had to be, for Yeosang. “And you have a family now. Someone took him away from me but they also gave me you. That had to happen for a reason,” he said quietly. 

“But you should’ve had  _ him _ ,” Yeosang said, “he died scared and in pain and alone and he didn’t deserve that. They didn’t even send you his medal.”

Hongjoong’s entire body hurt trying to hold back the sobs. “They sent it to his family,” he said quietly, “I was a nobody to the navy. Just an overly concerned friend as far as they knew.”

Yeosang shook his head. “Not his decals,” he said, “they awarded him a medal of valor posthumously. It’s still displayed on the ship, as far as I know. You deserved to have it, to have something of him, but they refused to send it.”

“They’ll never give it to me,” Hongjoong said sadly, “not only am I a nobody to them, I’ve killed countless of their men. They’d hang me before they handed over his medal.”

“We could take it,” Yeosang said, “find the ship, snatch the medal, in and out before anyone even notices.”

Hongjoong thought about it for a moment. “I like that idea. We can wipe out the ship while we’re at it and kill two birds with one stone. That way my crew won’t find out the real reason we attacked them.” 

Yeosang wasn’t sure how on board he was with  _ that  _ idea, but if he was going to be a pirate now, he supposed he needed to roll with it. “God, I’m so sorry for freaking out like that,” he said, wiping his face. 

“It’s okay. I’d rather you come to me when you’re upset than hold it all in. The explosion’s a lot worse,” Hongjoong said knowingly. He tipped back to lay down and pulled Yeosang with him.

Yeosang shifted to snuggle up to Hongjoong. He had no idea how he’d already become this comfortable, given what the older man had done to him, but he wasn’t going to read into it too much. 

“Get some rest. Seonghwa’s going to find us some lanterns to light for Kenta tonight. The little memorial he never got,” Hongjoong said quietly. 

Yeosang sniffled. “He would love that,” he said with a small watery smile. 

Hongjoong smiled sadly. “Yeah, he would. And hopefully it gives all of us closure too,” he said, “but for right now you need some rest.”

“You do too,” Yeosang said, “I know you were drinking again; I can smell it.”

Hongjoong huffed quietly. “Don’t mention this to Seonghwa. I don’t want him on my ass anymore,” he said. 

“I won’t,” Yeosang said, “as long as you come to me when you feel like drinking. We’ll figure out something else.”

“I’m not ready yet. But when I am, I will,” Hongjoong promised, “I don’t know how long it’ll take but as long as Seonghwa doesn’t find out, it’s okay.”

“I’ll be here when you are,” Yeosang promised. He wasn’t planning on going anywhere now.

“Thank you,” Hongjoong whispered, “now get some rest.” He pulled Yeosang a little closer. 

Yeosang closed his eyes. He was hoping that being close to Hongjoong helped abate the nightmares a bit. 

Hongjoong rubbed Yeosang’s side gently. Kenta was always the one who took care of him so it was odd being in that position now. He was sure he’d figure it out eventually. 

“I’m sorry,” Yeosang said, “I didn’t really do a good job of pretending to be him, did I?”

“It’s okay,” Hongjoong said quietly, “being you is more than enough for me. Just focus on feeling better so we can release the lanterns later.”

“Yeah, I’ll be okay by tonight,” Yeosang promised. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. 

Hongjoong braved leaning down and kissing Yeosang’s forehead. He was scared to get used to this but he had really missed having someone to lay with.

Yeosang couldn’t help but smile to himself. He hadn’t expected Hongjoong to be so...affectionate. 

Hongjong just laid there, wrapped up in his thoughts until Seonghwa came down. He gently shook Yeosang awake, only feeling slightly bad for bothering him. “Hey, it’s time for the lanterns,” he said quietly. 

Yeosang rubbed his eyes as he sat up. “Lemme change my shirt,” he mumbled, “it’s all gross and sweaty.”

Hongjoong reluctantly let go of Yeosang and stood up himself. He stretched to crack his back and ignored the headache pounding behind his temples.

Yeosang slipped across the hall and changed into a clean, sweat-free shirt. Once he did that, he stepped back out and rejoined Hongjoong.

Hongjoong took Yeosang’s hand and guided him out onto the deck. “How many did you find?” he asked Seonghwa. 

“Just one,” Seonghwa said regretfully, “I thought there'd be more.” He dutifully ignored the way Hongjoong’s hand was wrapped around Yeosang’s.

Hongjoong sighed. “That’s okay. One is enough,” he said quietly. He pulled a box of matches out of his pocket with shaky hands and gave it to Yeosang. 

Yeosang took the matches and struck one with shaky hands. He held it to the base of the lantern Seonghwa had.

When the lantern was lit, Hongjoong helped Seonghwa and Yeosang push it gently into the sky. He took Yeosang’s hand in his own again. “He was lucky to have people like you looking after him,” he said quietly. 

Yeosang just leaned on Hongjoong and didn’t say anything. He’d probably start crying again if he did.

Hongjoong wrapped an arm around Yeosang. It still hurt, it would always hurt, to live without him but at least he wasn’t alone anymore. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn’t notice the footsteps coming up behind them. “What the fuck is going on up here?” San screeched when he saw the prisoner being awfully friendly with the captain and Seonghwa obviously not caring. 

Yeosang jumped nearly a mile in the air and whirled around to face San. He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out.

Hongjoong spun around to face San, not in the mood at all to deal with the bullshit that was about to ensue. “San, go back below deck, this doesn’t concern you,” he said. “It absolutely does! I am  _ not  _ going to work for a captain that takes prisoners only to turn around and treat them better than us. And what’s with the lantern? You’re going to give our location away and before you know it we’ll be surrounded by the long list of people that want you dead!” San cried angrily.

Yeosang dropped Hongjoong’s hand and pulled away. “I’m going back belowdecks,” he said.

San stepped in front of the prisoner and pulled out his knife. “You’re just as guilty in this!” he screamed, “I want off of this fucking ship. This isn’t what I signed up for. I was told we’d find my brother and instead of keeping his promise, I have a captain who decided slutting it up with some mangy prisoner we found and drinking through all the liquor we had in two days would be a better way to spend our time.” 

Yeosang raised his hands in surrender and stepped back. “San, drop the knife,” Seonghwa said calmly, “it’s a military lantern; no one’s going to come looking for us. You need to calm down.”

“I’m not putting my knife down,” San said flatly, “if you want me to drop it, you’re going to have to take it yourself. And you’re really okay with this? You’re really just going to let this shit show keep happening and sail us in circles thinking none of us would notice? The rest of the crew may be too stupid to catch that but I’m not! You need to own up to the fact that you’re fucking everything up! If you can’t help me, you need to bring me to someone who can.”

“We will help you,” Seonghwa said, “we promised we would and you know we don’t break our promises. Things got a little off course for a while, but they’re back on now.”

“For a while? We’ve wasted weeks long before whatever this bullshit started!” San cried, “we haven’t made any progress since I joined this ship and this is the last straw! I’m fucking  _ done  _ with you.” That did it for Hongjoong. He stalked across the deck and caught San by surprise, socking him in the jaw and swiftly disarming him. He dragged the younger boy kicking and screaming over to the side of the ship. “You want off this ship? I’ll throw you over right now if that’s really what you want!” Hongjoong said angrily.

Yeosang took another step back, staying closer to Seonghwa. He wasn’t going to interfere in this, and the first mate clearly wasn’t going to either.

“You lying piece of shit!” San spat, “you never go through with your threats so why do you even make them?” Hongjoong unfortunately didn’t have enough leverage to completely throw San over but he was able to pick the boy up enough to get him over the edge. San desperately clung onto the edge of the ship, nails digging into the wood. “If you climb back up, I’ll kill you myself,” Hongjoong said flatly.

Okay,  _ that _ was enough. “Captain,” Seonghwa said lowly, “we can’t afford to lose another sailor right now.”

Hongjoong glared down at San. “Fine, if he climbs up,  _ without help _ , he can stay,” he said flatly. He glanced up and found that the lantern had been lost in some clouds. With an angry huff, he turned around and stalked back downstairs to his room.

Yeosang shared a glance with Seonghwa before hurrying off after Hongjoong. “Joong, wait!” he called.

Hongjoong spun around. “ _ You  _ do not call me that,” he spat, “and you don’t get to question the decisions I’ve made so you better choose what you are going to say to me very carefully.”

“I wasn’t going to question anything,” Yeosang said calmly, “I just figured leaving you to your own devices right now might be...destructive. I told you to seek me out, yeah?”

“And I told you I didn’t want your help yet,” Hongjoong snapped, “if you start overstepping, I will not hesitate to throw you back in the brig.”

“Don’t take your anger at San out on me,” Yeosang said, “I didn’t do anything. You nearly killed me and yet I have been nothing but helpful to you since, so cut it out.”

Hongjoong was affronted. “Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to? Just because you knew him that doesn’t mean anything,” he snapped. 

“Fine,” Yeosang said stiffly, “I should have never told you anything about him. You don’t deserve to know.” He turned on his heel and entered his own room.

Hongjoong sucked in a breath and turned around. He entered his own room and locked the door, fighting the urge to go get a drink.

Yeosang slammed his door, daring Hongjoong to come get him for it. He couldn’t believe the captain would just turn on him like this. 

Hongjoong’s chest was heaving. He knew that if he left the room, everything would fall apart again. The door slammed across the hall and it almost snapped his resolve. He couldn’t do this anymore. He really needed to just sit down with Seonghwa and discuss what to do moving forward. 

Seonghwa was actually quite impressed that San managed to make his way back onto the ship. Once the younger man was safely on the deck, he headed off after Hongjoong. 

Hongjoong flinched when there was a knock on his door. He stood up and answered it and was relieved when he found Seonghwa standing behind it. He ushered his first mate inside and close the door. “We need to have a serious discussion about what we’re going to do. No threats, no overreactions. Just an honest and realistic plan because I don’t know about you but I cannot and do not want to do this anymore,” he said quietly. 

“Your crew does not trust you anymore,” Seonghwa said bluntly, “you’ve thrown every policy you’ve ever had out the window lately and they have no idea what’s going on. You need to be honest with them.”

Hongjoong sighed and nodded. “I know that. And I...I honestly think it’s time to give this up. They’re just going to get hurt or killed, for what? For my selfish goals? That’s not fair. San’s right too. He’s been with us for how long and we haven’t done anything to help him find his brother,” he said sadly, “you all deserve better lives than this and there’s enough on this ship to be able to send you all off with a decent start until you find jobs. I’m just not fit to do this anymore and I can’t drag you all down with me.”

“These guys would have your back through  _ anything _ , Hongjoong,” Seonghwa said, “but you have to tell them what’s going on. Tell them about Kenta and Yeosang. Quit hiding things from them. If you try to get them off this boat, all you’ll be doing is mutinying yourself.”

“Shouldn’t I at least give the option for them to go?” Hongjoong asked quietly, “it’s not fair to keep them here when there are better lives for them waiting at home. And I don’t even know what to tell them about Yeosang. That he’s delusional and I thought he might be able to help me? You know that won’t fly well, especially with San.”

“You tell them the truth,” Seonghwa said, “that you couldn’t kill him because he looks like Kenta and that you finally opened up to him about it and he now has a new role in your life. If they want to leave once they know, then let them, but don’t offer it first without explaining.”

Hongjoong nodded. “Why have you stayed?” he asked in a small voice, “even before everything happened, why...how haven’t you given up on this yet?” 

“Because I trust you,” Seonghwa said, “you picked me up when I really needed a place to be and I trust you to no end.”

Hongjoong exhaled shakily. “I’ll talk to Yeosang first. He’s upset with me and I don’t know if he’ll want to be a part of a crew meeting,” he said. 

“Don’t just talk to him, make sure you apologize,” Seonghwa said, “he deserves at least that much.”

“I will,” Hongjoong promised, “did you help San up? I heard footsteps going down to his room.”

“He actually managed it on his own,” Seonghwa said, a little proudly, “although I’m sure you definitely owe him an apology once you explain everything.”

“Of course he did,” Hongjoong said with a shake of his head, “I will. I’ll talk to him alone after I talk with everyone.” He chuckled quietly. “Yeosang had this grand delusion that San would fuck me but he doesn’t realize San would rather murder me first. It cracked me up the other day so I thought you might get a kick out of it too.” He was already feeling much better after talking to Seonghwa for a few minutes. 

“Oh, he absolutely would fuck you,” Seonghwa said with a snort, “but trust me when I say you would  _ not  _ enjoy it.”

Hongjoong’s eyebrows shot up and he nearly choked. “What happened to San being too crazy for you?” he asked with a smirk.

“Oh,  _ I  _ haven’t slept with him,” Seonghwa said, “but he doesn’t exactly have sex for anything other than revenge or anger. Just ask Mingi.”

Hongjoong buried his face in his hands. “I do not need to know what my crew does in their free time,” he said, voice muffled, “do you remember when San was a good kid? And didn’t have so many of my bad habits?”

“He looks up to you a little too much,” Seonghwa said, “we should really help him try to find his brother. It’s been like three years.”

Hongjoong rubbed his forehead. “He really does and I have no idea why,” he groaned, “but yes. I’m going to make that our new priority from now on.”

“He was a kid and you promised him the one thing he wanted most in the world,” Seonghwa said, “he probably figured that if he acted like you, he’d get it.”

Hongjoong sighed. “I want to get him back too. I owe it to him. He was such a good kid and I don’t want him to tumble down the rabbit hole. He has a lot of potential,” he said quietly.

“One thing at a time,” Seonghwa said, “start by talking to Yeosang.”

“Yeah, I will. I’m going to go do that now,” Hongjoong said. He stepped forward and hugged Seonghwa. “Thank you, a lot. For everything you’ve done for me. I’m sorry I haven’t been there like I should have been these past few weeks.”

“You’ve been going through a lot,” Seonghwa said, hugging Hongjoong back, “now go, get out of my hair.”

Hongjoong mustered a small smile. He pulled back and teasingly punched Seonghwa in the arm. “Go get some sleep and then keep an eye on our ship,” he said. He left his first mate in the room and went across the hall to knock softly on Yeosang’s door. 

Yeosang got up and opened the door, just enough to glare at Hongjoong. “What do you want?”

Hongjoong sighed. “I just wanted to apologize. You’ve been taking care of me a lot recently and I haven’t acted very grateful. I’m sorry and I hope that we can move forward from this,” he said sincerely. 

Yeosang glared for a moment longer before sighing and stepping back to let Hongjoong in. “You’re a dick,” he informed the captain once the door was closed, “don’t be so defensive all the time”

Hongjoong nodded; he deserved that. “I’m sorry, but everything’s going to change. For the better. I’m going to talk with all of my crew and tell them what happened and give them the option to stay or go. And then we’re going to start looking for San’s brother like we promised.”

“And you promise things are going to be different now?” Yeosang asked, “no more getting rough with me and shutting me out?”

“Yes, things are going to be different,” Hongjoong promised, “I won’t get rough with you anymore and I’ll...I’ll work on not shutting you out.”

“That’s all I ask,” Yeosang said, finally relaxing a bit. “C’mon, we’ve got some time before you need to brief the crew.”

Hongjoong grabbed Yeosang’s hand and brought him back across the hallway into his room. He dropped it to close it behind them. “Get some rest. I know you need it,” he said.

“What, my bed’s not good enough?” Yeosang teased. Either way, he slid into bed next to Hongjoong and curled up.

“No, I just know you didn’t get any rest while you were in there,” Hongjoong said quietly. He wrapped an arm around Yeosang and pulled him closer. 

Yeosang was more than happy to lay his head on Hongjoong’s shoulder. “Do you think he would be proud of you?” he asked after a while. 

Hongjoong closed his eyes. “No,” he whispered after a moment, “he would have wanted me to stay home and go after the life I always dreamed of having. Not drag people on a five year race across the sea to try and quell my anguish.”

“What was your dream?” Yeosang asked. He found himself wanting to know things about the captain.

“I wanted to build us a house. I was slowly earning money and I almost had enough to build a foundation when the navy came back and told me that he wasn’t coming home. I put all of my money into my first ship and here we are,” Hongjoong explained.

“Were you a tradesman before?” Yeosang couldn’t even imagine Hongjoong on land. It seemed wrong somehow. 

“I was a carpenter, of sorts,” Hongjoong said, “I learned everything I knew from watching and practicing on any scrap pieces I could find. I just did small jobs here and there for people but I wanted to prove myself by building a house. If I had just waited, Kenta would probably have never left.”

“What do you mean?” Yeosang asked. He turned his head to look up at Hongjoong. 

“I was overly ambitious but Kenta never said no to me. He was always so supportive but we should have focused on just getting us somewhere cheap to live and I could have built us a house later,” Hongjoong explained. 

Yeosang hummed. He had always wondered why Kenta had enlisted when it was so clear he would rather be home. 

“It should have been me that went,” Hongjoong said quietly, “he had so many people at home that loved him. He would have been safe and taken care of, even if I didn’t make it home.”

“I don’t think we’ll ever know why things happen the way they do,” Yeosang said with a sigh.

“No, we won’t,” Hongjoong said quietly, “and no matter what I do, it’ll always hurt. He deserved so much better and I couldn’t give it to him.”

“He never doubted you for a second,” Yeosang soothed, “he loved you to the last second, Joong, I promise.”

Hongjoong couldn’t help the tear that rolled down his cheek. He never deserved Kenta, the older man was so good to him through everything and this was how he repaid him. 

Yeosang reached up and gently wiped the tear away. “No more tears,” he said softly, “he would want you to try to be happy.”

“I miss him so much. I haven’t thought about him this much since I found out,” Hongjoong said shakily. He didn’t deserve to be happy. Not after everything he had done to Kenta, Yeosang, and his crew. “Get some rest. You need it.”

“I’m not sleeping until you stop crying,” Yeosang said.

“I’m okay,” Hongjoong said. He reached up and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “I promise, I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not, and that’s okay, but I don’t want you to be alone and sad,” Yeosang said. 

Hongjoong smiled sadly. “You’re too kind for your own good, Yeosangie,” he said softly, “go to sleep. I’m okay now.”

Yeosang didn’t believe Hongjoong one bit. With a sigh, he leaned up and pressed a kiss to his cheek before settling in. 

Hongjoong felt his cheeks heat up. He wasn’t used to this type of affection. He leaned his head against Yeosang’s and slowly drifted off to sleep, only letting one more tear fall.

A few hours later, Seonghwa was knocking on the captain’s door. He had gathered everyone for the briefing and just needed the guest of honor. 

Hongjoong glanced down at Yeosang, who was still sleeping. He gently shook him awake. “Hey, I’m gonna go talk to the crew. If you want to sleep more, you can stay here,” he whispered. 

“No, I’ll come up,” Yeosang mumbled, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He slapped his cheeks lightly to wake himself up. “I’m sure they’ll have questions.”

“Alright,” Hongjoong agreed. He stood up from the bed and got dressed before going to help Yeosang up as well. “I’m gonna be completely honest with them and tell them everything that happened with Kenta and what’s going on with you,” he explained briefly. 

Yeosang changed into a shirt stolen from the captain’s drawer before following Hongjoong up to the deck. He hung back a bit, not wanting to draw too much attention. 

Hongjoong stayed in front of Yeosang on their walk up to the deck. The death grip Jongho had on San, trying to hold him back, didn’t slip his notice. “I owe you all a lot of explanations as to what’s been going on recently and what the future of our ship will be,” he began. “You owe us a lot more than that,” San snarked. 

“San,” Seonghwa said sharply, “we agreed to be civil about this. If you have any commentary, you can wait until the captain has finished talking. Am I clear?”

San kept his mouth shut but glared at the captain. Hongjoong ignored that in favor of focusing on what he was going to say. “I haven’t been completely transparent about why I am doing this or what even my end goal was. It’s true that I have wanted to track down and destroy as many navy ships as possible, but I haven’t been clear about why,” he paused to take a deep breath, “almost six years ago now, I lost the love of my life because of the navy and I still haven’t entirely forgiven them. I wanted revenge, I wanted vengeance, I wanted something to make it better. I’ve learned now that that it is never going to get better and it’s time to move onto something that’s going to benefit this whole ship rather than my selfish wants.”

“So then what’s the plan now?” Mingi asked, “we’ve been floating kind of aimlessly for weeks and only attacking merchants. I didn’t join your crew to kill innocent kids, Captain.”

Hongjoong sighed. “I know. And a lot of you joined because I promised I would take care of you and I intend to keep that promise. That being said, I promised one of you that I would help with something more and I haven’t kept that yet,” he glanced up at San, “I promised San when he joined this ship three years ago that I would help him find his brother and I intend to start looking for him from this point forward. I understand that a lot of you may not be willing to stay onboard with me and I won’t continue to drag any of you around anymore. If you would like to stay and continue sailing with me you can, if not, I will give you enough goods to trade and jewelry to sell to get you on your feet until you can get jobs on land.”

“And what about him?” Mingi demanded, gesturing his chin towards Yeosang. “Are you saying we wasted weeks of food stores on someone we’re just gonna drop on land and let go?”

“No, we didn’t. Yeosang is willing to stay with me and I want him to stay with me,” Hongjoong explained, “I broke my no prisoners rule for him because he looks a lot like my Kenta and I couldn’t bring myself to kill him when we took his ship.” It felt weird to finally admit everything aloud, especially to his crew.

“I’m staying,” Yeosang said, finally stepping forward, “as a crew member and a ship physician. No more prisoner gig.”

“Fuck that!” San snapped. He pulled free of Jongho’s grip and stalked belowdecks. He wasn’t going to work with a prisoner to try and find his brother. 

Yeosang sighed. “I’ll talk to him,” he said, “but I hope you all choose to stay.” He went off after San. 

San snapped his head up when he heard a knock on his door. He expected it to be Jongho but much to his dismay it was the prisoner. “What the fuck do you want?” he asked flatly.

“Look, I know you have issues with me that I don’t even understand,” Yeosang said, “but I was hoping we could maybe resolve them.”

San scoffed and turned back to the bag he was packing. “Look I get it. I knew Cap went soft the minute he decided to bring you on board. He hasn’t been the same since and he hasn’t helped me in even longer. I’m not sticking around for this anymore,” he said.

“We’re serious about finding your brother,” Yeosang said, “no more revenge plan for him. He took advantage of your trust in him for too long and I won’t let him do that anymore.”

San froze. “Of all of the people on this ship, you should be the  _ last  _ one defending him. And you should be the last one wanting me around,” he said quietly, “I think you hit your head a little too hard the other night.”

“I was there,” Yeosang said, “when his lover died. I listened to him die and I couldn’t do anything about it. I want revenge on the navy just as much as the rest of you. All of this has been one gigantic sign from the sea to point us in the right direction and I think that direction leads to your brother.”

San shook his head. “Why should I trust you? ‘Cause you look like him? ‘Cause Captain decided you were a good fuck and wanted to keep you? It’s been three years, I think it’s a little late to turn around and start looking for my brother,” he said slightly annoyed. 

“You have absolutely no reason to trust me,” Yeosang admitted, “that’s true. But we have at least a week to the nearest port and I’m hoping you’ll at least talk it out with the captain before then.”

“Sure, I’ll talk to him,” San said airily, “but I’ll only stay if he can prove he can help me. And I do not and will not report to you. You are not above me and will have absolutely no control over me, I don’t care how far up the Captain’s ass you are.”

“I’m hoping all the way,” Yeosang quipped without thinking. “I-I mean, I’ll let him know.”

San couldn’t help his face scrunching up and he made an over exaggerated noise of disgust. “Just get out of here and don’t come bother me again,” he said with a wave of his hand. 

“Hey, I don’t take orders from you either,” Yeosang said, “we’re the same now. Same crew, same rank. Might as well get used to it.”

San’s lips curled into a frown. “You and I will never be the same. I don’t care what the captain says,” he said flatly.

Yeosang just rolled his eyes and clapped San on the shoulder. “Good talk, buddy,” he said before heading back upstairs. 

San shook out his shoulders and glared after the prisoner. This couldn’t be what was happening on his ship. Above deck, Hongjoong waited nervously for Yeosang to return and was glad he was in one piece.

“He’s mad, but he at least agreed to hear you out,” Yeosang said, before turning to the rest of the crew. “Some of you may not know, I guess,” he said awkwardly, “I’m Kang Yeosang, vice admiral of the medical forces for the Royal Navy, honorably discharged five years ago. I’m a glorified trauma surgeon and will be staying aboard to patch you all up.”

“That’s  _ all  _ you’re staying for?” Yunho asked, glancing between Yeosang and Hongjoong. “That’s all you need to be concerned he’s staying for,” Hongjoong replied, “he’s been very helpful to me these past few weeks and I intend for that to continue. I hope all of the injuries he mends from here on out are not inflicted by each other.”

“Which includes Wooyoung,” Yeosang said, glancing at Yunho pointedly, “infighting will have consequences from here on out.”

Yunho’s mouth opened and closed a few times. “But...you...how…Captain, this can’t be right,” he stuttered out. Hongjoong raised a hand. “We cannot continue to waste medical supplies on injuries that are not warranted. I suggest you choose your fights wisely,” he said. 

“I’d much rather patch you up from fights you win,” Yeosang said. Wooyoung gave him a small smile. 

Yunho huffed and kept quiet. “Then you better give us some fights to win,” he said. “We’ll get there, Yunho, I promise. But I have to talk to San first before we go running into anything,” Hongjoong said. 

Mingi gave them both weird looks. “I hope you make this worth it, Captain,” he said finally. 

Hongjoong sighed. “I will. I’ll make up for these past few weeks,” he assured, “I’ve betrayed your trust enough and I don’t intend to let that keep happening.”

Mingi stood up. He held a hand out to the captain. “I’m with you,” he said.

Hongjoong smiled and grabbed Mingi’s hand. “Me too,” Jongho piped up. He stood next to Mingi and smiled at the captain. “I wanna help San find his brother.”

“If San lets us,” Yeosang said, “he’s a little upset right now, so we’ll see where it goes.”

“I’ll talk to him if he won’t listen,” Jongho offered, “I’m the only one on this ship he won’t hurt.”

Yeosang looked at Hongjoong. “That’s up to him,” he said finally.

“We’ll see how it goes when I talk to him. For now, just think about what stuff you might need when we land in port,” Hongjoong said. He reached over and ruffled Jongho’s hair, earning himself a pout and a huff. “I don’t want you to go back to treating me like a kid,” Jongho whined.

“You should go talk to San,” Yeosang said, “he should be calmed down by now.”

Hongjoong nodded and headed back down below deck. He knocked on San’s door and pushed it open slowly. He was not surprised to see the boy packing a bag. “Look, I know I’ve fucked up a lot and I’m not gonna force you to stay but this crew really wants to help you,” Hongjoong said. San leaned against the back wall and crossed his arms. “Why should I give you another chance? Why should I give  _ any  _ of you another chance?” he asked flatly. “Because we’re your family and we want to help you,” Hongjoong replied. 

The crew cleared off not long after that and Yeosang went back to Hongjoong’s room. He hoped his talk with San went well.

“You haven’t treated me like family since I stepped on this boat. None of you have,” San bit out. “That’s not true and you know it,” Hongjoong said pointedly, “I’ll admit you learned most of you bad habits from me and I want to help you undo them. Let’s start with the hotheadedness.” “You tried to kill me!” San cried, “I’m not being hotheaded or stubborn. I really thought I was going to die the other night. I’m  _ scared  _ of you and I don’t trust you anymore.”

Yeosang could hear heated voices through the walls. He did hope San chose to stay on the ship. He seemed like a valuable member of the crew.

Hongjoong took a step back. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry I hurt all of you but unfortunately I can’t turn back time. All I can do is promise you that it won’t happen again and that I am going to do everything in my power to try and find your brother,” he said. San wrapped his arms around himself. “I-I need some time to think about it,” he said quietly. 

Eventually, Yeosang got tired of waiting. He called Jongho and had the boy help him draw some bathwater.

Jongho stayed quiet for a few minutes before he couldn’t help himself. “Why did you help Captain?” he asked, “you could have just gotten Seonghwa hyung to figure it out.”

“With what?” Yeosang asked, “with San? Or with his grief?”

“With both I guess, but mostly his grief,” Jongho said, “but I’ve never seen him like this before so maybe Seonghwa hyung couldn’t have helped.”

“Seonghwa didn’t know,” Yeosang said, “I caught Hongjoong when he finally broke and I just happened to be involved in his lover’s death.”

Jongho’s eyes widened. “You’re lucky to be alive,” he commented quietly, “I didn’t even realize he had someone. He wasn’t against love per say but it just never seemed like it was ever a priority to him.”

“I didn’t kill his lover,” Yeosang clarified, “I did everything I could to save him, actually. But yes, the captain is still grieving. He may never feel those things for someone else again.”

Jongho let go of the breath he was holding and nodded in understanding. “And you’re really gonna keep an eye on him from now on? You’re really not going to try and get him back for everything he did to you?” he asked nervously.

“I understand now why he did those things,” Yeosang said carefully, “and between you and Wooyoung and Seonghwa and the other tall one, there aren’t enough people on this ship that I’d be comfortable with screwing over.”

“Yunho? Or Mingi?” Jongho supplied, “either way I hope you don’t turn your back on him. I don’t want my Captain going through another mental breakdown.”

“Must be Mingi,” Yeosang said, “certainly not Yunho. And I have no plans of turning my back on the captain.”

Jongho nodded. “Good. You should probably get to know everyone soon if you’re going to be joining the crew. I know you know Wooyoung well but Yunho’s the one you really gotta watch out for. But I’m sure you’ll figure it out eventually,” he said.

“The only one I’ll have problems with is San,” Yeosang said, “but he’s had a grudge against me since day one.”

“San is…I don’t know anymore. He was really nice to me when I joined and he helped show me the ropes but he just slowly went off the deep end and now here we are,” Jongho said quietly.

“I’m sure he’ll come around,” Yeosang said, “I can’t imagine it feels nice having your promises ignored for three years.”

Jongho shook his head. “I didn’t even know that’s why he joined,” he admitted, “but no one really shares anything on this ship. We especially don’t talk about our pasts.”

“You guys should talk more,” Yeosang said, “just get drunk together and spill it all.”

Jongho’s eyes widened and he shook his head. “N-No, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said hurriedly, “I know what I need to know and I’m good.”

Yeosang snorted. “Any more questions or can I take a bath now?”

Jongho dropped his eyes to the floor. “Are you and Captain like...together now?” he asked quietly.

“No,” Yeosang said, “not to my knowledge. I may not hate him, but I’m not particularly trusting of him yet either. We both need time before that’s even a possibility.”

“But you would consider it?” Jongho asked incredulously. He really didn’t see any of this coming.

“Under the right conditions,” Yeosang said, “there would have to be certain parameters for me to feel safe being with him like that.”

Jongho whistled lowly. “You’re crazy,” he said with a shake of his head, “honestly, I always thought Captain and Seonghwa had something going on but I guess not. Oh well. Enjoy your bath.”

“I’m glad I’m not the only one to see it,” Yeosang said, “thanks for your help, Jongho.”

Jongho nodded and turned to leave the room. As he opened the door, he saw Hongjoong coming down the hallway and he disappeared in the opposite direction to get some work done.

Yeosang stripped down and relaxed into the warm water. He wasn’t sure how long Hongjoong’s talk would take, but he didn’t care really. 

Hongjoong entered the room and found Yeosang relaxing in the bath. “Comfy?” he asked. He climbed into bed without changing and collapsed onto it. 

Yeosang hummed. “Nice and warm,” he said, “how did your talk go?”

“It went okay. He had a bag packed but he said he would think about it,” Hongjoong explained, “he said he was scared of me because of the other night and I just don’t know if he’ll stay. He doesn’t trust easily so I’m sure this has all been a lot for him.”

“I can imagine,” Yeosang said. He relaxed a bit longer before finally washing himself and getting out of the tub. 

“I don’t know what we’ll do if he decides to leave,” Hongjoong said quietly, “he’s like family. I can’t imagine losing him. As much of a pain in the ass as he is sometimes.”

Yeosang dried himself slowly and padded over to the bureau to find clothes. “Well, he’s got a week to think it over,” he said. 

Hongjoong hummed. He picked his head up and caught sight of Yeosang rifling through his drawers. “Whatcha looking for?” he asked innocently.

“Pants,” Yeosang said, finally pulling out a pair that seemed like it would fit. He really needed to gain some weight back. 

“What do you need those for?” Hongjoong asked next, “it’s not too cold out and I’m always hot anyway. Come on, come lay down.”

“Because otherwise I’ll be naked,” Yeosang said slowly, “and I’m not sure I want to be naked that close to you yet.”

Hongjoong sighed. “It’s just one night, it won’t hurt. I’ll even sleep on top of the covers,” he bargained.

“I’m putting on pants,” Yeosang said, already stepping over. It was already risky enough to go without a shirt but he figured he was skeletal enough to not garner Hongjoong’s attention. 

Hongjoong sighed. “Fine, but I’m not,” he said. He pushed himself up and pulled off his shirt before shimmying out of his trousers and dropping both garments over the edge of the bed

Yeosang pointedly looked away. “I don’t want that thing anywhere near me,” he said, gesturing vaguely. 

Hongjoong huffed and rolled his eyes. “Relax, I’ll get covered,” he said. True to his word, he climbed under the sheets and settled down.

Yeosang didn’t come to bed until Hongjoong was fully covered. He wouldn’t mind sleeping with him if it happened, but the captain’s dick wouldn’t be involved at all. 

Hongjoong waited until Yeosang was laying down to roll on his side. He leaned over and kissed the younger man’s cheek. “Night, Yeosangie,” he said. 

“Night,” Yeosang mumbled. He was glad the low lighting hid his flush. 

Hongjoong hesitantly reached out to hold one of Yeosang’s hands before closing his own eyes. Hopefully tomorrow would be almost back to normal. 

Yeosang sighed softly and threaded his fingers with Hongjoong’s. “Everyone thinks I’m crazy for not hating you,” he said, “funny how they all suddenly developed a moral code.”

Hongjoong sighed. “You are crazy for not hating me,” he said carefully, “but yeah, I think these past few weeks have gotten to everyone. The only ones whose moral codes are really gone are San and Yunho.”

“I don’t think they’re gone,” Yeosang said, “stunted maybe, or damaged, but not gone. That’s the curse of pirating though.”

Hongjoong hummed. “One of the curses,” he said quietly, “but we’ll get them back. I think Yunho will turn around but I’m really worried about San.”

“Just keep talking to him,” Yeosang said, “don’t badger him, but don’t just let him stew either.”

Hongjoong nodded. “I will. I think I’m gonna take Jongho up on his offer. He’ll be able to get through to San,” he said. 

“He seems like a good kid,” Yeosang said, shifting more toward Hongjoong.

“He’s such a good kid,” Hongjoong said fondly, “he’s got a sassy streak but he’s been pretty quiet since everything started falling apart. You’ll see it soon enough. But he’s really sweet. Him and Mingi really aren’t your typical pirates.”

“They don’t seem it,” Yeosang said, “Mingi came to me crying about having to hurt my captain’s son. That was what really started changing my mind.”

“He’s a bleeding heart. I don’t think I would have kept him aboard if Jongho wasn’t so insistent,” Hongjoong said, “they’re all good kids. They just really haven’t had the opportunity to be.”

“You pirates aren’t as scary as you want to seem,” Yeosang said, “it’s cute that you try so hard though.”

Hongjoong pulled back a little so he could see Yeosang. “What do you mean we aren’t scary? There’s countless people across these seas that are terrified of us. You used to be scared of us before everything happened,” he said. 

“I was not scared of you collectively,” Yeosang said, “I was scared of you specifically. There’s a difference.”

Hongjoong sighed and settled back down.“Right,” he said quietly, “our job isn’t cute though. And it’s not supposed to be. Nothing about us is cute and we don’t try to be.”

“You may not see it, but I think you can be absolutely adorable,” Yeosang said. He wasn’t going to take any arguments on this.

“I am  _ not  _ adorable,” Hongjoong grumbled, “go to sleep, you clearly need it.” As annoyed as he was, he still didn’t let go of Yeosang’s hand. 

“You are!” Yeosang said, “look, you’re even pouting now. Just face it, Hongjoong, you’re cute.”

Hongjoong huffed and finally let go so he could roll over and put his back towards Yeosang. “Knock it off or I won’t let you stay in here,” he threatened.

Yeosang wrapped himself around Hongjoong’s back. “You know that isn’t helping your case at all,” he said.

“Stop it,” Hongjoong whined, “I can be scary when I want but I reserve the right to relax. And you’re getting on my nerves so I recommend you go to sleep sooner rather than later.”

“Or what?” Yeosang asked teasingly, “you’ll pout at me?”

“Or I’ll make you sleep with San,” Hongjoong growled. He knew he didn’t sound threatening but it didn’t matter at this point.

“Pretty sure that’s more of a punishment to San than it is to me and we don’t want to make him upset right now,” Yeosang said.

Hongjoong huffed again. “Why are you doing this?” he asked sadly, “can’t you just go to sleep and be quiet for once? I have to get an early start tomorrow and I don’t want to be grumpy ‘cause you kept me up.”

“You admit that you’re cute and I’ll shut up and go to sleep,” Yeosang offered.

“Goodnight, Yeosang,” Hongjoong said firmly. He closed his eyes and settled down more comfortably. There was nothing more to say on this subject.

“You’re no fun,” Yeosang pouted, but he settled down all the same.

Hongjoong didn’t say anything in favor of finally falling asleep. The following morning he woke up feeling much more refreshed than he had in weeks. He was actually looking forward to getting back up on the deck with his crew.

Yeosang woke up bright and early, ready to go. He was still a little bruised and sore, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him from jumping in and joining the crew. This was his ship now too.

Hongjoong made sure to give San plenty of space and let Seonghwa handle the boy. It was nice to get some fresh sea air and be able to have actual conversations with his crew. Their day was relatively quiet and Hongjoong was able to turn in early and have his evening to relax.

Yeosang took the evening watch with Mingi, so he didn’t return belowdecks until well into the night. He was surprised to see Hongjoong still awake when he got down there.

Hongjoong sat up when Yeosang came back into the room. “You were out there late. Enjoying the pirate life now?” he asked with a small smile. 

“I’ve always enjoyed night watches,” Yeosang said, “I don’t sleep much and I’d rather do something than sit around.”

Hongjoong cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t sleep much, huh? Why’s that?” he asked innocently.

“The trauma,” Yeosang said bluntly, “but even when I was a kid, I just was never able to turn my brain off.”

Hongjoong frowned. “Does it help sleeping next to someone?” he asked quietly. He wondered if that was why Yeosang liked to stay in his room.

“A bit,” Yeosang said, “it does help with nightmares, most of the time.”

Hongjoong hummed. He reached out a hand towards Yeosang. “What else helps?” he asked next.

“Nothing really,” Yeosang said, “sometimes if I manage to exhaust myself, I can sleep uninterrupted, but that’s rare.”

Hongjoong tilted his head. “Well if the work doesn’t exhaust you, I’m sure I can think of something else that might help,” he said. 

“I doubt it,” Yeosang said, shaking his head. If the day’s work hadn’t done it, nothing would.

“Why don’t you let me try?” Hongjoong said, holding his hand out further, “and if it doesn’t work I’ll leave you alone.”

“What do you mean?” Yeosang asked, cautiously taking Hongjoong’s offered hand.

“Let me just show you,” Hongjoong said. He tugged Yeosang against him and didn’t give the younger man a chance to respond before kissing him deeply. 

Yeosang froze in shock for a moment before shoving Hongjoong off of him and scrambling away. “What the  _ fuck _ ?!”

Hongjoong rolled his eyes. “Relax, Yeosangie, we’ve done this before. I’ll even use oil this time. Just come back over here, I promise you can trust me,” he said, reaching his hand out again.

“No,” Yeosang said, “I told you, I don’t want that - that  _ thing _ anywhere near me.”

“That ‘thing,’” Hongjoong scoffed, “fine, go be stuck with your brain for the night and see if I care. If you change your mind, don’t come crawling back to me.” He laid back down. He should have known Yeosang would still be like this.

“This! This is exactly why I’m saying no!” Yeosang said, “all I did was decline the offer and you’re upset with me. What if I ask you to stop in the middle? Are you just gonna ignore me and keep going? Get mad and take it out on me? I’m not taking that risk right now.”

“I’m trying to help you. For once, I wasn’t thinking about myself and you still don’t care,” Hongjoong said.

“It isn’t that I don’t care or I don’t appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I am  _ terrified  _ of you,” Yeosang said, “and I am terrified that you’re going to go right back to what you were doing before.”

“Then why put yourself in a position to get hurt? You have your own room where you don’t need to be anywhere near me. Why not save both of us the hassle and just stay in there?” Hongjoong asked.

Yeosang groaned in frustration. “It’s not that simple,” he said, “I am  _ trying  _ to trust you, because you’re my captain and I can’t work under a man that I don’t trust, and I’m also trying to help you.”

Hongjoong sat up again so he could see Yeosang. “So you want to help me, you want to trust me and you’re going to do that by just sleeping next to me? How are you supposed to figure out I won’t hurt you if you don’t do anything with me?” he asked. 

“I’m not going to trust you in a situation that I don’t have the control to get out of,” Yeosang said, “I’m not there yet.”

Hongjoong tilted his head. “What if you had control? Then would you try?” he asked. 

“I...guess so?” Yeosang said dubiously. He hadn’t considered that Hongjoong would ever give him the control.

Hongjoong smiled and held his hand out again. “Come here,” he said gently.

Yeosang took Hongjoong’s hand and slowly approached him again. He wasn’t sure what was happening at all now.

Hongjoong dropped Yeosang’s hand and leaned back on his own. “Show me what you’re comfortable with,” he requested. 

Yeosang sat crosslegged on the bed next to Hongjoong’s legs, facing the older man. “Nothing rough,” he precautioned, “if this gets rough, I  _ will _ have a panic attack.”

“Nothing rough,” Hongjoong agreed, “I don’t want you to get hurt.” He watched Yeosang, wondering if the younger man would actually do anything. 

Yeosang was nervous but he steeled himself long enough to lean forward and kiss Hongjoong softly. He hoped he didn’t seem ridiculous for wanting things slow. 

Hongjoong kissed Yeosang back gently. It had been a long time since he had done something like this without being angry or rushed and he was grateful for the slow start.

It didn’t take long for the kiss to become heated, but it stayed gentle. Yeosang scooted a little closer and cupped Hongjoong’s cheek. 

Hongjoong gripped the sheets below him tightly, fighting the urge to run his hands all over Yeosang. He didn’t want to risk anything tonight.

“It’s fine if you want to touch me,” Yeosang said as he pulled away, “just be gentle.”

Hongjoong nodded. “I will be,” he breathed. He tested out the waters by gently laying a hand on Yeosang’s thigh. 

Yeosang leaned in and kissed Hongjoong again. He let one of his hands fall between them onto the older man’s knee. 

Hongjoong kissed Yeosang back again. Subconsciously, he pressed a little closer. It was odd to be kissing someone like this after all these years.

After a while, Yeosang had to pull away again. He absently rubbed the inside of Hongjoong’s thigh. “Can I take your clothes off?” he asked.

Hongjoong was surprised by Yeosang’s question. “S-Sure,” he stuttered out. He let his hand slide from the younger man’s thigh as he sat back. 

Yeosang’s hands found the hem of Hongjoong’s shirt and pulled it up over the captain’s head. He had never really taken a good look at the older man’s body before and was surprised to see a couple of tattoos. 

“Like what you see?” Hongjoong asked. He caught Yeosang’s eye trailing over the tattoos on his chest and arm. 

“They’re really pretty,” Yeosang said, looking over the ink. He didn’t have any himself, but he had always wanted some. 

“Thanks,” Hongjoong said proudly, “I did them when I first got my ship. They’re not the neatest things but they’re all mine.”

“You did those?” Yeosang asked, looking up at the captain. “That must have hurt so much.”

“I had some help with the albatross but the sun was all me,” Hongjoong said, “I, uh, don’t really remember if they hurt or not.” He was in a rough state when he gave himself the tattoos. 

“Well, they look really good,” Yeosang said. The tattoos were honestly really hot. Getting braver, he kissed Hongjoong with a little more force. 

Hongjoong was about to respond when Yeosang’s mouth was suddenly on his again. His yelp of surprise was muffled and melted into a quiet moan. 

Yeosang pressed closer, deepening the kiss. One hand strayed to Hongjoong’s side, resting loosely on the dip of his waist.

Hongjoong hummed contently. Yeosang was such an amazing kisser. Fleetingly, he wondered how much experience the younger man had. 

Eventually, Yeosang pulled away. He discarded his own shirt before leaning back in and kissing Hongjoong again.

Hongjoong wasn’t expecting Yeosang to get undressed as well. Before he could stop himself, he grabbed Yeosang closer, almost into his lap. He wondered how far the younger man was going to take this.

Yeosang settled easily onto Hongjoong’s lap. He, of course, wasn’t going to let Hongjoong just take control, but he could make allowances here and there. 

Hongjoong’s hands came to rest on Yeosang’s waist. He pulled away for a brief second to take a breath but didn’t waste any time kissing Yeosang again. He wanted to take advantage of this as long as he could.

Yeosang would be more than content to sit here making out all night, but that wouldn’t tire him out. Eventually, he pulled away and got off of Hongjoong. “You said you have oil?” he asked. 

Hongjoong’s eyes widened. “Yeah, I do. There should be a small pot with my soaps,” he said, “you really wanna do this?”

“If you want to, I want to,” Yeosang said, “as long as you’re clear on whose dick is going where.”

Hongjoong exhaled shakily. “You...you sure you can handle topping?” he asked.

“This isn’t my first rodeo,” Yeosang said, getting up to get the oil, “I’m more worried about you.”

“Not your first rodeo?” Hongjoong asked with a raised eyebrow, “and you don’t have to worry about me, I can handle whatever you try to throw at me.” 

“I was in the navy,” Yeosang said, “everyone loves a man in uniform.” He came back to bed once he had found the oil. 

Hongjoong hummed. It was true. He could still remember seeing Kenta in his navy uniform and how he couldn’t wait to rip it off when he got home. He shook his head and focused back on Yeosang.

Yeosang settled on the edge of the bed. “You’re gonna have to take your pants off,” he said. 

Hongjoong laid back and lifted his hips. “If you want them, come get them,” he taunted. 

Yeosang rolled his eyes, but set the oil aside so he could finish stripping Hongjoong. “Have you ever even bottomed before?” he asked. 

Hongjoong pouted. “I have so you have a lot of expectations to live up to,” he said.

“I’m just making sure,” Yeosang said, “I want to make sure you know what you’re getting into.” He wondered to who. Certainly not Kenta. He opened the pot of oil and spread some on his fingers. 

Hongjoong laid still. Even though he had experience, it had been a very long time since he had been in a position like this. But he wasn’t about to admit that he was actually a little nervous. 

Yeosang went for Hongjoong’s cock first. He wrapped a hand around it to stroke it to life.

Hongjoong gasped quietly. Yeosang’s suddenness completely caught him off guard. “You don’t have to be so hasty,” he said.

“If I was being hasty, I’d have half my fingers in your ass already,” Yeosang muttered. He stroked slowly, wanting to make this good for Hongjoong. 

Hongjoong whimpered quietly. It had been so long since he had been touched by anyone but himself. His nails dug into the sheets as he tried not to give away how needy he was. 

Yeosang hoped for both of their sakes that Hongjoong didn’t end this too quickly. Once he thought the older man was hard enough, he let go, slicking his hand back up. 

Hongjoong exhaled shakily when Yeosang finally let go. He forced himself to relax and opened his legs. “You know you don’t have to go easy on me,” he said, trying to act more confident than he felt.

“I know,” Yeosang said simply, “I want to. I don’t want rough and that means for you either.” He nudged Hongjoong’s thighs open and unceremoniously smeared some oil across Hongjoong’s entrance.

Hongjoong clamped his mouth shut to hold back the moan threatening to slip past his lips. He was surprised, albeit grateful, that Yeosang wasn’t using this opportunity for revenge.

Yeosang watched Hongjoong’s face as he slowly pushed one finger in. His goal was not to hurt the older man, no matter how much Hongjoong had hurt him.

Hongjoong tipped back his head and squeezed his eyes shut. He could barely remember the last time he bottomed. Had it really been this uncomfortable? He shifted his hips in hopes of finding some relief. 

Yeosang used his clean hand to rub the inside of Hongjoong’s thigh soothingly. He slowly started moving his finger. 

Hongjoong slowly began to relax again. Yeosang was being so gentle with him and that helped a lot. Cautiously, he pushed his hips more insistently onto the younger man’s finger.

Yeosang moved his finger a little faster, wanting Hongjoong to get used to it before he attempted a second. Once he thought it was okay, he pushed his ring finger in as well. 

Hongjoong couldn’t help it. When Yeosang pushed a second finger in, he moaned loudly.He pushed his hips down more. The younger man was close, so close, to where he needed him most.

Yeosang started scissoring his fingers, trying to stretch Hongjoong as much as he could. He wasn’t the biggest, but he was certainly big enough to be uncomfortable. 

“Yeosang,” Hongjoong gasped out. He usually hated being out of control like this but he wasn’t nervous anymore. Yeosang obviously knew what he was doing. 

Yeosang smirked to himself and kept going. He went up to three fingers, and then four, before he decided Hongjoong had probably been stretched enough. 

Hongjoong exhaled shakily when Yeosang finally pulled his fingers out. He reached up to push his sweaty bangs out of his face so he could see the younger man. “Are you sure you’re ready?” he quipped quietly.

“I’m ready,” Yeosang said, “are you?” He slicked himself up and lined up.

Hongjoong nodded. “I am,” he promised. He reached out a hand for one of Yeosang’s.

Yeosang smiled as he threaded his fingers with Hongjoong’s. That was adorable. Slowly, he pushed in. 

Hongjoong squeezed Yeosang’s hand tightly. He tipped his head back and breathed through the discomfort until Yeosang was pushed in all the way.

Once Yeosang was buried, he held still to give Hongjoong time to adjust. He leaned down and kissed the older man softly. 

Hongjoong moaned into Yeosang’s mouth. He lazily kissed the younger man for a few moments. “You can move,” he mumbled finally.

Yeosang kept his movements small and slow to start before slowly starting to get more intense. He wasn’t exactly sure how Hongjoong liked it, so he took whatever cues he could. 

Hongjoong gasped when Yeosang started to pick up his pace. He wrapped his legs around the younger man, urging him to go faster. “You...you feel so good,” he breathed. 

Yeosang pulled his hand away from Hongjoong’s to wrap around his thigh instead. “You’re so fucking tight,” he gritted out. 

Hongjoong whined when Yeosang pulled his hand away. He reached out again but his arms were too short. “Come back,” he begged. 

“I’m right here, baby,” Yeosang said. He paused for a moment to maneuver both of Hongjoong’s legs up over his shoulders then easily took the older man’s hand as he started moving again.

Hongjoong melted when Yeosang called him ‘baby.’ He was like a pile of putty in the younger man’s hand. The new angle felt amazing and try as he might to tell Yeosang, he couldn’t manage more than a loud moan. 

Yeosang really wasn’t going to make it much longer. He wrapped his other hand around Hongjoong’s cock, trying to get the older man off first.

Hongjoong cried out when Yeosang started to jerk him off again. He tried to warn him that he was close but before he could form the words, he was cumming hard between them. 

Yeosang groaned and fell forward when Hongjoong suddenly tightened and came. He snapped his hips roughly until he came as well. 

Hongjoong whimpered quietly when he felt Yeosang’s load hit his walls. He panted heavily and tried desperately to regain his focus. “You’re so amazing,” he whispered. 

Yeosang panted heavily until he regained enough focus to pull out and roll to the side. “Thank you,” he mumbled. 

Hongjoong reached out for Yeosang and did his best to shift over so he could wrap around the older man. He was still dirty and a little too far away so he gave up and just held his hand. “Wanna cuddle,” he whined. 

Yeosang hummed. He dropped Hongjoong’s hand and got up to get a rag. His bathwater, albeit dirty and cold, was still there, so he used it to clean them both up before getting back in bed and pulling Hongjoong close. 

Hongjoong hummed happily when he was wrapped up in Yeosang’s arms. He snuggled as close as he could physically get and settled down to get some sleep.

As much as Yeosang had enjoyed the sex and as physically taxed as he did feel, his brain still would not shut off. Even after Hongjoong fell asleep, he laid awake for hours, just thinking. 

Hongjoong always got extremely cuddly after sex. As he began to wake up, he started to remember everything that happened. He usually didn’t care but this time it made him feel vulnerable.

Yeosang was still awake, arm wrapped tightly and securely around Hongjoong as the older man slept. What did all of this mean for them?

Hongjoong woke up to Yeosang’s arm still tightly around him. “Morning,” he mumbled, “did you sleep at all?” 

“No,” Yeosang said softly, “just dozed a little bit here and there. I’m not tired.”

Hongjoong frowned. So this hadn’t helped. He just hummed and let go of Yeosang so he could roll over and get comfortable again.

Yeosang frowned when Hongjoong rolled away from him. He guessed that was his answer. 

Hongjoong grabbed Yeosang’s hand and absently played with his fingers. He wasn’t really sure what was going to help the younger man.

Yeosang moved over and wrapped around Hongjoong from behind. “It’s not your fault,” he murmured, “or my fault. It just happens sometimes. I bet I’ll sleep tonight after a full day of working.”

Hongjoong hummed. “Yeah, that’ll probably help, especially if you try to keep up with Yunho. Speaking of we should probably get up soon, you actually have responsibilities you need to be on time for now,” he said, not making any effort to move.

“If the captain can be late, so can I,” Yeosang said, “and I think I’m going to organize an actual infirmary today.”

“ _ I  _ can do whatever I want on my own ship,” Hongjoong said, “ _ you  _ have responsibilities that need to be done on time or you’ll have to answer to Seonghwa. Don’t take up too much room with it because I’m going to need spaces if we get more crew members.”

“There’s a small log room down in the hold that I’m going to use,” Yeosang said, “I’ll have a list of what supplies I’m missing by the time we reach port.”

Hongjoong nodded. “Make sure you report this to Seonghwa and I’ll give Jongho the list when we get to port,” he said, “you should probably get going on that sooner rather than later.”

Yeosang hummed. “Just let me hold you for a few more minutes,” he said. 

Hongjoong wasn’t about to protest that. He sighed quietly and scooted so his back was pressed against Yeosang’s chest. “You didn’t strike me as the cuddling type,” he said.

“Neither did you,” Yeosang said. He just hoped Hongjoong wouldn’t regret this later. 

“Kenta used to call me his koala because of how much I clung onto him and begged him to lay with me,” Hongjoong said quietly, “I didn’t realize how much I missed having that.”

“You tell me you’re not cute and then you go and tell me stories like that,” Yeosang said, “which is it?”

“I was cute when I was younger,” Hongjoong amended, “but I left those days behind when I got my ship.” He smiled sadly to himself. He had never shared this much of his past with anyone before and he was shocked he even remembered this much.

“Well, maybe you can relive some of them just for me?” Yeosang suggested. 

“Relive some of it?” Hongjoong asked quietly. He took a deep breath. “I don’t want this to turn into something we just do if one of us is having a rough day. I-I can’t handle that. I know you’ll get bored at some point and I’m not setting myself up for another breakdown.”

“That isn’t what I want either,” Yeosang said, “and I can’t promise that I won’t have some days where I just can’t handle being near you, but this isn’t just nothing to me.”

Hongjoong rolled over so he could face Yeosang. “I’m broken. I come with a lot of baggage and I don’t think you fully understand that. I know you mean well, Yeosangie, but I think you really have to think this through first,” he said. 

“No, I understand fully,” Yeosang said, “but you need to understand that half of  _ my  _ baggage is you.”

Hongjoong sighed. “I understand that. Which is why I’m skeptical why you still want to do this,” he admitted.

“Because I know that you’re not that person you were before,” Yeosang said.

“You don’t know what will make me snap and go back. I’m not trying to be difficult but you have to look at the big picture. It’s not going to be like this all the time. There’s going to be days you want to give up on me and I don’t know if you’ll be strong enough to come back after those,” Hongjoong said desperately. He felt bad but he couldn’t help being cautious.

“You’ve done the worst that you could possibly do to me,” Yeosang said, “but if you don’t want this, just tell me straight up.”

“No, I do. I just…” Hongjoong paused. “I haven’t trusted someone like this in a long time and I’m scared. I’m scared that I’ll never be able to fully trust you. And I’m especially scared that what happened before is gonna happen all over again and I don’t think I could handle that.” His voice was no higher than a whisper.

“You being scared doesn’t mean I have to be scared too,” Yeosang said, “let me lead.”

Hongjoong heaved a sigh of relief. He wrapped himself around Yeosang and buried his face in his neck. “It’s going to take a while and it’s going to be rocky but I’ll get there. I don’t know how long it’ll take but I’ll get there eventually,” he said quietly.

“We have all the time in the world,” Yeosang said, “now c’mon, captain. Up and at ‘em.”

Hongjoong bravely pressed a kiss to Yeosang’s neck. “Alright, let’s go. You have an infirmary to create and I have a crew to oversee,” he said. He let go and slowly sat up to stretch.

Yeosang got up and dressed and left the captain with a kiss on the cheek to go report to Seonghwa. He informed the first mate of what he’d be doing before heading belowdecks and snagging Wooyoung to help him. 

Hongjoong headed above deck a little after Yeosang left. He found Seonghwa on the quarterdeck and went to join him. It was nice to be back in his old routine and hopefully no other disasters tried to destroy it again.

Wooyoung and Yeosang cleaned out the little log room and started by setting up a cot in there. “How are things going with Yunho?” Yeosang asked. 

Hongjoong kept an eye on San. The boy was working with the same dedication and pace he had before everything fell apart. Hopefully that meant that he had decided to stay.

“They’re okay,” Wooyoung said, “he’s gone from hurting me to barely acknowledging me, which is...better, I guess.”

Hongjoong watched San finish what he was doing and then head over to the crows nest. He hopped down from the quarter deck and went to intercept him. “I know I’m the last person on this ship that you want to talk to but I’m the one who needs to make sure you’re okay,” he said. San paused for a moment before climbing back down the couple of rungs and landing on the deck.

“Yes, him not beating you is better than him beating you,” Yeosang said slowly. “I know that,” Wooyoung said, “but I miss him as a person.”

“I’m fine,” San said simply. Hongjoong raised an eyebrow. “You weren’t working like someone who planned on leaving in a few days,” he pointed out. San crossed his arms and frowned. “That’s ‘cause I’m not,” he said. “What made you change your mind?” Hongjoong asked. “Jongho,” San replied.

“Have you tried talking to him?” Yeosang asked. Wooyoung nodded. “He won’t listen to me,” he said, “he walks away every time I try and he’s sleeping in the other room again.”

Hongjoong waited for San to continue. “He came to talk to me the other night. He asked me all sorts of questions about what my brother was like, and where he could have gone, and what he looked like. He actually showed interest in looking for him and he pored over a map with me for over an hour. Since I’ve gotten on this ship, he’s the only person that’s actually made an effort to help me but if I wanted to keep his help, I’d have to stay. So I am. It’s not for you, it’s not for Seonghwa, it’s for Jongho,” San explained. 

Yeosang frowned. He wished things could just be easy for Wooyoung. “I hate to say it, but you’re gonna have to meet him in his space,” he said. 

Hongjoong sighed. “I still want to help you. You just tell me where you need to go and we’ll get you there,” he said. San nodded once. “Thanks, Cap,” he said. He turned to start climbing again. 

Yeosang and Wooyoung finished the infirmary by late afternoon and headed abovedecks. “Go talk to him,” Yeosang urged, so Wooyoung approached Yunho. 

Yunho glanced up when he heard footsteps. He scowled when he saw it was Wooyoung and went back to his work. 

“Can we talk?” Wooyoung asked tentatively. Yunho was braiding together rope, so he sat and started coiling what was finished. 

“I don’t need help,” Yunho snapped, “and there’s nothing to talk about.” He didn’t look at Wooyoung, opting to keep his head down instead. 

“Yunho,” Wooyoung sighed, “what happened? Why are you ignoring me?”

“I told you not to come back until you were done being a brat,” Yunho said, “I have no reason to talk to you until then.”

“You told me once that part of the reason you fell in love with me was because I wasn’t afraid to stand up for myself,” Wooyoung said, “what happened to that?”

“Because you act like I’m the worst thing that happened to you. That’s not what I meant by you standing up for yourself and I’m fucking sick of it. I want my Wooyoungie back who was nice and quiet and did everything I asked. And until that happens, I don’t want to talk to you,” Yunho said.

“I shouldn’t be able to count the number of times you’ve almost killed me on my hands, because that number should be zero, Yunho,” Wooyoung said, “I was only so nice and quiet and obedient because you  _ beat  _ me until I was too scared to say anything other than yes. You don’t deserve any other chances from me, but I’m here, trying to give you one, so you could at least acknowledge me like another human being.”

Yunho threw down the rope and drew himself up to his full height. “Maybe that’s it then. Maybe you just need another good beating to put you back in your place,” he snarled.

Yeosang was talking with Seonghwa and Hongjoong when he saw Yunho suddenly stand up. He nudged the captain, motioning discreetly. “Fuck you,” Wooyoung said, standing up as well, “I don’t understand how you can say you love me if you only like me when I’m scared of you. That’s not love, Yunho.”

Hongjoong glanced over and kept his eyes on Yunho. “You haven’t loved me since we got on this ship!” Yunho screamed, “you’ve been a pain in the ass for almost four years now and I’m  _ sick  _ of it. So you need to start acting like the man I fell in love with or you need to leave me alone.”

“You kidnapped me! You brought me on a ship I never wanted to be on, locked me up like a prisoner, beat and raped me, and you act like I’m just supposed to flick a switch and become your - your - your - your  _ bimbo _ !” Wooyoung cried, “you never loved me to begin with and I can’t  _ believe  _ that I let you trick me into giving you so many second chances.”

Yunho snapped and struck Wooyoung hard across the cheek. He was about to swing again when his arms were suddenly pinned behind his back. “Let me go!” he yelled. 

Yeosang rushed over and pulled Wooyoung away, inspecting the boy’s cheek. He pulled him into a tight hug when he started to cry. 

Yunho finally pulled himself out of Hongjoong’s grip. He stormed downstairs to his room and slammed the door. Hongjoong was right on his heels though, and opened the door a few moments later. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” he snapped. 

Yeosang carefully guided Wooyoung downstairs to his quarters. “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry,” he murmured, wiping the boy’s cheeks. He dug some arnica salve out of his drawer and carefully rubbed it into the bruise that was forming. “Why can’t I hate him?” Wooyoung sobbed. 

Hongjoong didn’t let Yunho continue before he kept going. “I have watched you drag that boy through the wringer and I am done with it. You need to grow a pair and apologize to him for everything you’ve done,” he said flatly. “No! I miss my Wooyoungie and I’m not apologizing until I get him back,” Yunho said. “You’re never going to get him back if you keep acting like this. And honestly, you don’t even deserve him anymore,” Hongjoong snapped. Yunho fell silent. 

“Because you know the person he was and is still capable of being,” Yeosang said, “and I’m sure there have been moments where you’ve seen that person again. I’m not going to try and tell you whether to leave him or keep trying, Wooyoungie, but at some point, you have to come first.”

“I don’t want to see your face on my deck until you’ve apologized to him. And don’t try to manipulate him into going back with you,” Hongjoong said, “am I clear?” Yunho gave a curt nod and watched his captain leave the room. 

Yeosang finally got Wooyoung calmed down and cleaned up, then went to find Hongjoong. “This has gotten out of control,” he said. 

“I know. I told Yunho he needs to apologize but I don’t know if he will,” Hongjoong said, “why don’t you stay with Wooyoungie tonight? I think he needs someone.”

“Yeah,” Yeosang said with a sigh, “I was going to take watch tonight, but not now. I think we should let Wooyoung off at the next port if they don’t fix things.”

Hongjoong nodded. “I don’t want him to get hurt anymore,” he said quietly, “you keep an eye on him and I’ll take watch. If Yunho really wants to apologize, let him, but stay close.”

“Aye, Aye, Captain,” Yeosang said. He pressed a quick kiss to Hongjoong’s cheek. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“See you in the morning. Be careful please,” Hongjoong said. He would never forgive himself if Yunho hurt Yeosang. 

Wooyoung was crying again when Yeosang got back to the room, so he laid down in the bed and pulled the younger man close to him. This was going to be a long night. 

Yunho paced back and forth. He could hear Hongjoong and Yeosang talking in the hallway but only caught bits and pieces. When he heard something about Wooyoung and the next port, he panicked. That couldn’t happen. 

Eventually, Wooyoung cried himself to sleep, cupping his own bruised cheek gingerly. Yeosang sighed. He hated seeing the younger man like this. If Yunho ever dared to raise a hand to Wooyoung again, Yeosang would kill him himself. 

Yunho eventually worked up the nerve to go talk to Wooyoung. He quietly entered the younger boy’s room and was unsurprised to find him asleep. But he was surprised to see Yeosang laying with him. He felt jealousy bubble up in his chest. 

Yeosang looked up when Yunho entered the room and cocked an eyebrow. “Are you here to apologize?” he asked, “or are you just going to berate him more?”

Yunho scowled and felt his hands tighten into fists. “I was gonna come tell him that he can’t leave at the next port,” he said. 

“That isn’t up to you,” Yeosang said, “if you want to apologize for real, I’ll wake him up. Otherwise, get out.”

“No, don’t wake him up. He needs to get some rest. I can talk to him in the morning,” Yunho said. 

“Then why are you still here?” Yeosang asked pointedly. He gestured to the door with his free hand. 

Yunho shifted on his feet. “I don’t like him sleeping with someone other than me,” he said. 

“That’s your own problem, Captain Possessive,” Yeosang said, unconcerned, “it’s not like I’m fucking him, or like I’m even sleeping. I’m staying here so that, A, if you decide to come take your anger out on him, I can stop you, and B, if he wakes up crying, I can calm him down. Captain’s orders.”

Yunho rolled his eyes and turned around. “You might as well date him if you’re so good for him,” he snarked. 

“I’d certainly be much better for him than you are,” Yeosang said, “I’d make sure to be the type of person that  _ deserves  _ love and affection from someone as special and incredible as Wooyoungie, which is a concept I know you don’t understand.”

Yunho grabbed the door handle tightly. “You don’t understand. I did so much for him before we joined the ship. We were perfect, inseparable, and then we got here and everything fell apart,” he said. 

“No,” Yeosang said, “you helped out your lover when he needed it then convinced yourself that that meant he was dependent on you and owed you, and when he tried to tell you that he didn't need you to survive, you stole him from his home, forced him into captivity and sexual slavery under the claim of love, and acted like every choice you made was a decision he forced onto you. You need to take responsibility for your own actions, Yunho. It’s time to be an adult.”

Yunho’s chest was heaving. “I love him so much but he acts like he doesn’t care. He acts like nothing mattered and it hurts so much. I just want my Wooyoungie back. I just want to hold him in my arms at night and tell him I love it. It hurts so much to live like this but I can’t lose him,” he said. 

“You treat him like  _ he  _ doesn’t matter,” Yeosang said, “you act like he is less than you and even less than human. If things were the other way, would you be happy with him treating you like that?”

Yunho’s resolve was slowly cracking. “No, I wouldn’t but he’s not completely innocent in this,” he said. 

“Yes, he is,” Yeosang said firmly, “and until you can recognize and admit that this is entirely your fault, I don’t want you anywhere near him.”

Yunho’s hand slipped off the doorknob. “Would he even listen? He hates me now. Would he even care if I apologized?” he asked quietly. 

“He would listen,” Yeosang said, not willing to give Yunho any additional leverage. He still was not going to let Wooyoung be alone until Yunho made some sort of proclamation.

“I wanna talk to him. I just want my Wooyoungie back like when we used to be happy together,” Yunho whispered. 

Yeosang glanced down at his watch. “Go back to bed,” he said, “if you still want to apologize and talk in the morning when he’s awake, I’ll let you.”

Yunho sighed. “Fine, I’ll be back,” he said. He pushed open the door and left the room.

Yeosang certainly hoped so. The only reason he had sent Yunho away was because he couldn’t be certain now that the apology was genuine. 

Yunho laid down in his cold bed. He missed Wooyoung so much. He would do anything to get his lover back, anything. Even if that meant swallowing his pride. 

Yeosang dozed off for a little bit until he felt Wooyoung moving. “What time is it?” The younger man mumbled. “Early morning,” Yeosang said, “you can rest some more.”

Yunho didn’t get much sleep. He was trying to think of what to say but nothing felt right. He couldn’t even tell what time it was to know if he should go back or not.

“My face hurts,” Wooyoung mumbled. Yeosang sat up and grabbed the arnica salve again. He carefully spread it over the bruise and rubbed it into Wooyoung’s skin. It would be a good couple of days before it healed fully. 

Yunho finally couldn’t take laying there anymore. He stood up and went back to see if Wooyoung was awake yet.

Wooyoung was just settling down to go back to sleep when the door opened. Yeosang sighed. “Wooyoungie,” he murmured, combing through the boy’s hair, “you have a visitor.”

Jealousy swirled in Yunho’s stomach when he saw how Yeosang was acting with Wooyoung. He wasn’t even helping. “Hi, Wooyoung. It’s me,” he said quietly, sitting down across from the younger boy. 

Yeosang didn’t move, but he did release his hold on Wooyoung so the boy could sit up and talk with Yunho properly. Wooyoung sat with his knees folded up and his arms wrapped around his legs. 

Yunho knew Wooyoung liked to be held when he was upset but he couldn’t quite hold him now. Instead, he took one of his hands. “I’ve missed you a lot,” he said quietly.

Wooyoung watched Yunho with a guarded expression. “Have you?” he asked finally. 

Yunho nodded. “I have. I miss us. I miss sleeping with you and being able to hold you when I don’t feel good and being able to talk to you after a long day. I miss being happy,” he said. 

“You being happy and me being happy are two different periods of our lives together,” Wooyoung said apprehensively. He didn’t want to go back to Yunho hurting him. 

“I miss when you cared. I miss when you acted like a part of this relationship. I miss when you loved me,” Yunho said quietly. 

Wooyoung shut down immediately. “I’m not having this argument with you again,” he said, pulling his hand away from Yunho. “Leave me alone.”

“No, Wooyoungie, please,” Yunho begged, “I want to go back to the days before we came on the ship. When we supported each other and loved each other and were happy with each other.” 

“Then stop acting like it’s  _ my _ fault that we aren’t like that anymore,” Wooyoung said angrily, “none of this has been because of anything I did.”

Yunho took a deep breath. “You’re right,” he said quietly, “and I-I’m sorry.”

“You can’t just say that two seconds after blaming me for all of our problems,” Wooyoung said, “you don’t deserve me anymore.”

Yunho’s heart sank. “But...but I love you so much. I can’t lose you. You’re my world, Wooyoungie, I can’t live without you,” he said desperately. 

“I guess you should have thought of that before you started treating me like an object instead of your boyfriend,” Wooyoung said, “how am I supposed to trust you anymore?”

“Because...because,” Yunho didn’t really have a good answer, “because I’m gonna get better. I’m gonna treat you right, Wooyoungie, I swear. I’ll do anything not to lose you.”

“I don’t believe you,” Wooyoung said, “every other time you’ve apologized to me, you’ve gone right back to what you were doing and god damn it, Yunho, I don’t want to do that anymore!”

Yunho could feel tears starting to gather in the corners of his eyes. He pushed himself back from Wooyoung. “So is this it?” he asked in a small voice. 

“I don’t want to lose you either,” Wooyoung said quietly, “but I can’t keep letting you hurt me either. At some point, I have to come first.”

Yunho raised a shaky hand. “Then trust me. I’ll make it all up to you, I promise. I can’t lose you, Wooyoungie, I can’t,” he said.

“I can’t just trust you like that,” Wooyoung said, “you have destroyed any semblance of trust I ever had in you and I don’t know if it’ll ever come back.”

Yunho pulled his hand back to wipe his eyes. “If you can’t trust me, what’s the point? If you don’t love me, what’s the point? If you’re happier without me, what’s the point?” he asked sadly.

“If you’re not going to put in the effort, what’s the point?” Wooyoung said pointedly.

“I’m offering to make an effort! I’m promising to fix things but you just said you don’t trust me. What more do you want from me? I don’t know what to do,” Yunho said quietly. 

“You have to earn my trust back,” Wooyoung said, “I’m not just going to give it to you because you claim to be a good person now.”

“How? I’ll do anything, Wooyoungie, anything. I just want you back, I miss you so much,” Yunho said. He hesitantly moved closer to Wooyoung. 

“I’ll give you one more chance,” Wooyoung said after a moment of thinking, “that’s it. I’m staying in my own room, which I’m going to lock at night. I’m working with the crew like everyone else. Court me like you did before we were dating, Yunho, show me you can be that person again.”

“Court you?” Yunho asked quietly, “do you really want to go that far back?” He threaded his hands together.

“I trust you as much now as I did then,” Wooyoung said, “if you want me as much now as you did then, then act like it.”

Yunho sighed. “Okay. I’ll prove how much I love you,” he agreed. He carefully pushed himself to stand up. “But I don’t like the idea of you sleeping with him.”

“I’m not going to be,” Wooyoung said, “at least, not for now. That may change if you start treating me like shit again.”

Yunho fought to keep a frown from slipping onto his face. “I will do everything I can for you but I will not be happy if you start sleeping with other people. You never looked at anyone else when I started courting you,” he said.

“I’m not gonna fuck him,” Wooyoung said, “but if you make me cry again, I can’t say I won’t go and spend time with the one person on this ship that has always been kind to me.”

Yunho nodded once. “Okay, we’ll start at the beginning,” he said, “get some rest, Wooyoung, and I’ll see you when I’m done with my work.”

As soon as Yunho left the room, Wooyoung all but collapsed into Yeosang. “Holy shit,” he said weakly.

Yunho didn’t like this at all but he didn’t have a choice. He definitely wasn’t going to take things as slow and waste time with this. He just wanted his Wooyoungie back in his arms as soon as possible. 

Wooyoung clung to Yeosang for a little while longer before Yeosang finally decided he needed to get some work done. He needed to finish his inventory list for Jongho, so he left Wooyoung to rest and headed downstairs. 

Hongjoong hadn’t heard any yelling so he had to assume Yunho and Wooyoung’s talk had gone relatively well. As long as the two were able to stay civil, Hongjoong wasn’t going to worry. 

By the time Yeosang got his list finished, he was dead on his feet. He brought it up to Jongho then went to find Hongjoong. 

Hongjoong smiled when he saw how exhausted Yeosang looked. “Tired yourself out?” he asked. He moved across the room to help support the younger man.

“Haven’t slept in over two days,” Yeosang replied, leaning heavily on the captain. “Yunho and Wooyoung spoke.”

“Let’s get you to bed,” Hongjoong said. He half carried Yeosang across the bed and helped him lay down. “How did it go? Yunho didn’t seem angry and upset today.”

“I think it went well,” Yeosang said through a yawn, “they agreed to start from a courting stage again. I’m still not entirely sure that Yunho gets it though.”

Hongjoong sat down on the edge of the bed. “I don’t think he’ll ever get it but as long as he starts being good to Wooyoung again, it’ll be okay,” he said. 

“I hope he will be,” Yeosang said with a sigh, “I’ll kill him myself if he isn’t.”

“Easy there tiger, you’re gonna have to practice being a little scarier first,” Hongjoong said. He slowly reached over to comb his fingers through Yeosang’s hair. 

“Oh no, it’s better if I’m not,” Yeosang said, “he won’t behave honestly if he feels threatened by me.”

Hongjoong hummed. “I’ll keep an eye on him, you keep an eye on Wooyoung and together we’ll make sure they’re okay again,” he said. 

Yeosang hummed and nodded. He was finally, finally tired enough to fall asleep. 

“Good night, Yeosangie,” Hongjoong whispered. He continued playing with his hair until the younger man had fallen asleep.


End file.
